September 10, 2010

Ukraine's veterinary police inspect pig farms as African swine fever looms

Ukraine's veterinary police are inspecting pig farms amid the threat of spread of the African swine fever in Ukraine, said Serhiy Oksiuta, chief of the Interior Ministry Veterinary Police Ukraine.

"We are checking the compliance for animal breading and production in closed regime. We have already revealed about 8,500 violations and seized more than 300 tonnes of pork," Oksiuta said.

According to him, the threat of spread of an extremely infectious African swine fever in Ukraine has recently increased. "The disease has affected a large area of Russia. Half of the registered pestholes (70 in total) are in Rostov region, and the latter was revealed 7km from the Ukrainian border," the representative of the veterinary police said.

He also noted that now it is impossible to say exactly whether the cases of swine fever are in Ukraine. "The virus carrier is carried by wild boars, which, after wildfires in Russia moved in all directions, including toward Ukraine. We required hunters who shoot wild boars to bring carcasses for examination. Yet there is no evidence that the shot animals had been infected," Oksiuta explained.