African Swine Fever: Bulgaria confirms four new cases in wild pigs
The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency said that it had confirmed four new cases of African Swine Fever (ASF) in wild pigs.
This brings to 32 the number of cases of ASF in wild pigs in Bulgaria.
The cases were in the village of Bistrentsi in the Rousse district, Devin municipality in the Smolyan district, near the village of Zhelyava in the Sofia district and near the village of Vurbino in the Silistra district, the agency said.
The Food Safety Agency reiterated its call to the public to be responsible in the face of the animal health situation and to implement prevention and biosecurity meaures.
Speaking to Bulgarian National Television on August 14, Deputy Agriculture Minister Atanas Dobrev said that in cases where ASF had been confirmed, a ban was issued on entering forests within a 200km zone to hunt, cut timber and pick mushrooms. This was to prevent people spreading the disease, he said.
Dobrev said that the Agriculture Minister wanted to see a longer hunting season for wild pigs, opening two weeks earlier in the second week of January and continuing until mid-March.
Earlier, Bulgaria announced a bounty for hunters who shoot dead wild pigs, as one of the first measures the country announced against the spread of ASF.
Initially, most cases of the recent outbreak of ASF in Bulgaria involved domestic or industrial pigs, but more recent cases have been among wild pigs.
