Effective Measures Taken to Handle Dead Pigs in Huangpu River
CHINA - Last week, the Ministry dispatched two teams to Zhejiang and Shanghai respectively to supervise and coordinate local efforts of handling the dead pigs found in the Huangpu River.
18 March 2013
3 minute read
On 16 March, MOA Chief Veterinary Officer Yu Kangzhen, who was the head of the team to Zhejiang, received an interview by local journalists in Jiaxing, Zhejiang.
During the interview, Dr Kangzhen said that the number of floating dead pigs has declined greatly, and the bodies have been retrieved in a timely manner and handled properly. 3601 heads of pig carcasses have been cleared from the water and safely disposed in Jiaxing, 80 per cent of which being piglets. He urged local authorities to continue to fish pig carcasses, and make sure there are no further dumping dead pigs in rivers.
He said that no dead pigs here, the source of floating corpses in a river, are found to have entered the market. He vowed to keep any dead pigs away from the market.
Dr Kangzhen said sample examinations of dead pigs have confirmed that there were no swine epidemics or zoonoses in Jiaxing, and the pig deaths were attributed to common swine diseases due to bad weather at the turning of the season.
The MOA Chief veterinary noted that it is natural to see dead pigs as there are a great number of small hoggeries in Jiaxing. Due to weak awareness and capacity in safe disposal of animals, when pigs die of diseases, some local farmers dump the carcasses into the river or on rural roads.
He said the team has asked local authorities to step up hygiene education among hog farmers and production supervision on pig breeding.
