Pig deaths: No threat to public, says Dy CM

SHILLONG: Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong in-charge Animal Husbandry and Veterinary on Wednesday said that there is no threat to public health due to the death of pigs in the state.
He was replying to a call attention motion moved by PT Sawkmie (Congress) on the plight of farmers due to death of pigs in Mawlai and others parts of the state.
Sawkmie said a piggery owner in Mawlai Mawtawar had written to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma that four pigs had died in six days till May 16.
He also said there were several cases reported in other parts of his constituency and some pig farmers were not able to even carry the carcasses as there was no ambulance provided by the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department.
He urged the government to provide cash incentives to the pig farmers as they do not have any resources due to COVID-19.
In his reply, Tynsong said 30 pigs had died in the state since the first week of May and the district wise break-up is: East Khasi Hills (9), Ri Bhoi (12), West Khasi Hills (2), Mairang Civil Sub Division (4) and one each in West Jaintia Hills, East Garo Hills and East Jaintia Hills.
He said as per the test reports received from ICAR, the pigs died due to classical swine fever and not African swine fever. Only six pigs died due to some other reasons.
According to Tynsong, the classical swine fever is not a deadly disease as the mortality rate is very low and vaccines are available.
He also said both African swine fever and classical swine fever do not spread to humans and hence there is no threat to public health as the disease spreads only from pigs to pigs.
Tynsong said following the death of pigs in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, the government had in an order on April 27 banned import of pigs into the state besides imposing restriction on inter-district movement of pigs.
He also advised that people should consume pork only after cooking adequately above 70 degree Celsius for at least 20 minutes.