Garcia temporarily suspends culling of pigs in Carcar

CEBU Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has decided to temporarily suspend the culling of pigs in Barangay Guadalupe, Carcar City that have been suspected of having African swine fever (ASF).

In an interview with reporters on Monday, March 13, 2023, the governor said the pigs in Barangay Guadalupe will be observed and strictly monitored for seven days to see if they have been infected with the virus.

"For the next seven days, I stopped the culling in Barangay Guadalupe and my instructions were none of these hogs can go out but, we will not kill, we will now closely observe if there are deaths or whatsoever but even any of that happens, start the disinfection already," Garcia said.

The governor had earlier noted that although the infected pigs were nearby, there was no sign of a widespread disease.

Garcia said that in addition to the containment, the examination will go on by testing the pigs to determine whether they are suffering from ASF or hog cholera.

"...you talk of ASF as was presented if one pig gets sick the entire population is decimated, wala, patay within five to seven days, that's the incubation, we are not seeing that. We are not seeing hundreds or thousands of pigs getting killed. Well now in Carcar, 141 died because they were killed, they were culled," the governor said.

In line with this, Garcia ordered the chief executives of local government units placed under the red, pink, yellow and light green zones due to ASF to submit to the Capitol an inventory of all backyard raisers in their area for anti-cholera vaccination.

Garcia also urged the backyard raisers to disinfect their pig sty with chlorinated water while the vaccines have not yet arrived.

She also asked them to notify the barangay captains or the mayors if their pigs are weak or have passed away in order to collect blood samples for ASF testing.

“...we will distribute the symptoms of cholera and ASF and if they notice at any time, any of the pigs displaying such symptoms, they may immediately isolate these pigs and continue to monitor the situation even if there are no symptoms by using chlorine to disinfect the area,” Garcia said.

“Start cleaning all of the pig pens and other areas where these pigs are raised. If they notice any of the pigs exhibiting these symptoms, they should report it right away to the barangay kapitan and it should be reported right away to the mayors and to us. And if any pig dies, report it immediately so we can get the proper samples. I said that as of right now, you can detect cholera by even getting a sample of the pig’s stool,” she added.

It was earlier stated by Carcar City Mayor Patrick Barcenas that 300 pigs were culled, but Garcia said that only 141 of them were actually put to death because they stopped killing the other pigs to first assess the situation.

Garcia promised that the Capitol will compensate the backyard farmers whose pigs were culled.

The governor is set to hold another meeting with the mayors and the Department of Agriculture and the Provincial Veterinary Office for another announcement and declaration about ASF. (ANV/TPT)