AIZAWL: At least three wild boars suspected to be infected with African Swine Fever (ASF) were found dead in a forest near Leisenzo village in east Mizoram’s Champhai district near the Myanmar border, an official of the state animal husbandry and veterinary department said on Wednesday.
The official said that the carcasses of two female wild pigs and a wild piglet were found by locals in a forest about 6 km from the village on Tuesday.
On being informed, officials of animal husbandry and veterinary and forest departments rushed to the spot on Wednesday and inspected the decomposed carcasses, he said.
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Although the wild boars have died under mysterious conditions, African Swine Fever (ASF) was strongly believed to be behind their deaths, he said.
He said that samples of the dead wild boars were sent to Bhopal to ascertain the cause of their deaths.
Earlier on July 1, officials also inspected the carcass of a wild pig that died under mysterious conditions in a forest in the Samthanga area in the Champhai district, he said.
ASF continues to wreak havoc on piggeries in Mizoram as 267 more pigs and piglets died due to the highly contagious pig disease in the past two days (Tuesday and Wednesday).
According to data released by the state animal husbandry and veterinary department on Wednesday, a total of 8,539 pigs have died in the ASF outbreak since its recurrence in February this year.
The outbreak has currently affected 119 villages and localities in 10 out 11 districts, it said. So far, 7,018 pigs have been culled to prevent further spread of the outbreak since its recurrence in February, it said.
As many as 33,417 pigs had died due to the outbreak of ASF last year causing monetary losses to the tune of Rs 60.82 crore.
A total of 10,910 pigs have also been culled to prevent the further spread of ASF in the same year.
Initially, considered more or less contained as no pig death due to ASF was reported since December last year, the highly contagious pig disease resurfaced in February this year.
Mizoram has already banned the import of pigs and pork products from other states and countries on April 2.