• NET Web Desk

As many as 259 pigs have died in Ri-Bhoi district in the last one-and-half months owing to African Swine Fever (ASF).

According to the Principal Secretary of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Services (AH&VS) Department – GHP Raju, roughly 259 pigs have succumbed across four villages in Ri-Bhoi due to the concerned ailment.

“Suspected ASF cases were reported in Meghalaya; following the casualty of a large number of pigs in Mizoram and Tripura,” he said.

On April 13, the first incidence of ASF in Ri-Bhoi was discovered, prompting notifications under the Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act 2009, tehreby prohibiting slaughter, pig movement, and supply at Umshorshor hamlet, which was deemed the ASF epicentre.

Villages within a one-kilometer radius of Umshorshor were classified “infected zones”, while all hamlets within a 10-kilometer radius of the epicentre were declared “monitoring zones”.