Bulgaria’s Agriculture Minister bans hunting in African Swine Fever-infected areas
Bulgaria’s Agriculture Minister Dessislava Taneva issued a new order on August 5 banning hunting in areas infected with African Swine Fever.
The areas defined in the order are those no less than 200 square kilometres around places where African Swine Fever has been confirmed.
The order decrees that individual hunting may be allowed no less than two months after the confirmation of a case of African Swine Fever in the area, and six months in the case of group hunts.
At the same time, the reward promised by Bulgarian authorities to hunters who kill wild boar – 150 leva per carcass in infected areas and 50 leva outside an infected area – remains in force.
The ban on access to grounds where herbs, wild mushrooms and truffles are sought, declared a few days ago, also remains in force, according to the ministry.
On August 5, a state of emergency was declared in the municipality of Svishtov because of African Swine Fever.
Bulgarian National Radio said that in several parts of Bulgaria, checks had begun on August 5 whether pigs on private farms had been culled. Nearly 100 settlements in the Sliven region had been inspected, the report said.
Officials found a farm with 150 unregistered pigs near the military airfield in Dobrich in north-eastern Bulgaria. The owner was given 48 hours to cull the pigs.
Tourists and other visitors have been banned from entering the Iskar state hunting grounds in the Samokov area because of a confirmed case of African Swine Fever, BNR reported.
At the same time, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency was unable to say whether checks on the killing of domestic pigs had started in all areas where the voluntary eradication deadline expired today. The total number of pigs already killed at industrial pig farms also remains unclear, Bulgarian National Radio said.
