Sale purchase of pigs banned in Himachal amid African swine flu scare

Bilaspur (HP) May 21(PTI) Himachal Pradesh’s Animal Husbandry Department has imposed a complete ban on the sale and purchase of pigs after swine flu cases were reported in the state, an official said on Wednesday.
     These orders were issued after a case of African swine flu was reported in Kolka Panchayat of Bilaspur’s Jhanduta subdivision recently.
     Due to this infection, 36 pigs died in a pig farm, while four were killed by the department as per the rules.
     The Animal Husbandry Department has vacated the farm and started the sanitization process which will last for three to six months. A total of 40 pigs were reared in this farm which comes under the Animal Dispensary Daslehra, the official said.
     After this case came to light, the Animal Husbandry Department issued an alert. Earlier, cases of infection were reported in two pig farms in Balot of Bharari area. Sanitization is being done around the affected farm.
     The Animal Husbandry Department had earlier banned the purchase and sale of pigs in Bilaspur only, but now this order has been issued for the whole state.
     All Animal Husbandry Deputy Directors have been asked to implement this order.
     State Animal Husbandry Department Director Dr. Sanjeev Dhiman said that after the swine flu cases came to light, orders have been issued that neither pigs should be bought nor sold nor transported in the entire state.
     This arrangement will continue till further orders, he added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)