BACOLOD City – African Swine Fever (ASF) has penetrated the 1st District of Negros Occidental with San Carlos City recording its first case yesterday morning.
Mayor Renato Gustilo revealed 16 hog mortalities were recorded in the city and they immediately gathered blood samples from the dead hogs.
Of the samples taken from barangays Bulwangan and Rizal, those from Rizal tested positive for ASF.
The city mayor said the two villages have been cordoned off while other hog raisers in the city were advised to dispose of their hogs while still healthy to avoid major losses.
San Carlos City has a swine population of more than 16,000.
On Tuesday, July 11, the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) confirmed 18 more cases of ASF in Negros Occidental.
The specimens were taken from Barangay 6 (13 positive cases), Barangay Linao (two) and Barangay Binicuil (one), all in Kabankalan City.
Two other cases were from Hinigaran town – one each from barangays Gargato and Camba-og.
As of July 10, hog mortalities reached 16,361 or close to 10 percent of the province’s hog population of 164,334.
Losses reached P186,633,250 so far.
Despite the hog mortalities, however, the province was still able to ship out more than 10,000 healthy pigs to other provinces, said Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson.
The governor assured Negrenses that hog diseases, particularly hog cholera and ASF, were being contained. (Watchmen Daily Journal)
