LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Benguet’s Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) has tightened checkpoints to prevent the entry of animals infected with African swine fever (ASF) and bird flu ahead of the spike in demand for the holidays.
“We will be stricter and we will tighten checkpoint operations to ensure that infected or sick animals intended for food will not enter and cause more reinfections in the province,” PVO head Dr. Purita Lesing said Tuesday.
She explained that by setting up various checkpoints, they were able to cut the number of cases or incidence of ASF from 30 in 2023 to 14 cases as of Oct. 28.
She said there were eight incidents where checkpoints prevented the entry of ASF-positive pigs.
She said pigs within a kilometer radius of where an infected animal is would be mandatorily culled to avoid the spread of the virus.
Based on inventory, the province has about 56,000 heads of pigs at any given time, only 30 percent of the province’s demand, she said.
The province receives an average daily supply of 26 million kg. of pork meat from other places and five million heads of culled chicken, commonly used for the native delicacy, “pinikpikan.”
“Our internal supply is not enough that is why we see possibilities of entry of live infected animals for the occasions, but we hope that people will be more responsible as to bringing in of untested and possibly infected animals,” Lessing added. **Liza Agoot