Mandaue Vet strengthens ASF monitoring in city’s ports

Hogs (stock photo)

MANDAUE CITY,  Philippines — The Mandaue City Veterinary Office continues to strengthen its monitoring in ports among others against the African Swine Fever (ASF) following the first case of ASF in Ormoc City in Leyte last week. 

Dr. Karen Merilles,  Mandaue City Veterinarian, said the City Veterinary Office had been inspecting daily different grocery stores and sattellite markets in the city to ensure that there would be no pig and pork products coming from places that had cases of ASF.

Merilles said even before the case was recorded in Ormoc, the provincial government had already made a ban of pig and pork products coming from Leyte. 

She said the Cebu’s major suppliers of pig and pork products were the provinces of Bohol, Negros Occidental, and Negros Oriental.

Merilles also said that they had yet to receive reports of sudden death of pigs in the city and in the province and they continued to monitor the pigs in the city.

Merilles said she also encouraged farmers to avoid to feed pigswill to avoid being infected with the virus. 

“It’s ban but og naay magpalusot mao nay atoang problema. As long as ang atoang farmers dili lang mo lawg og pigswill, mga lamaw, we are safe dili ta matakdan, in case makakaon siya og infected nga karne sa baboy atoang hogs, ” said Merilles.

(It is a ban but if someone would smuggle these pork then we have a problem. As along as our farmers will not feed their hogs or pigs pigswill then we are safe from being infected. This is to prevent our hogs from eating infected pork.)

The Cebu Island remains ASF-free.

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