Officials Sacked over Chinese Pig Deaths

CHINA - Two officials were removed from their posts Wednesday for their poor performance in containing the spread of blue-ear disease that has killed more than 1,000 pigs in north China's Shanxi Province so far this year, local authorities have reported.

12 February 2009

2 minute read

Asia

Zhang Mazhu was sacked as director of the Animal Husbandry Center of Hongtong County, and Jia Changchun was dismissed as deputy Party secretary of the Wan'an Township in Hongtong, said a spokesman with the county's Party committee.

The two officials were blamed for failing to take effective measures to handle the blue-ear disease issue, he said.

Up to 1,056 pigs have been found dead in Wan'an so far this year. The animals were raised by 65 households in 10 villages. About 80 per cent of the dead animals were less than a month old.

Local authorities have quarantined the villages and culled 936 infected pigs.

Vaccine for 165,000 pigs have been sent to Hongtong, along with 430 exposure suits, 4.1 tonnes of disinfectant and 610 syringes for injections.

The county allocated 1 million yuan (equivalent to 147,000 US dollars) as compensation for farmers, who will get 150 yuan to 1,500 yuan per pig.

Markets and supermarkets were closely monitored, but so far, no contaminated pork has been discovered.

Blue-ear disease is an economically important pandemic that causes reproductive failure in breeding stock and respiratory tract illness in young pigs.