Alert in Assam's Kaziranga National Park over pig carcasses

JORHAT: A high alert was sounded at Kaziranga National Park (KNP) on Wednesday after the carcasses of 80 pigs, who died due to African swine fever, were recovered from inside the park.
Park authorities said 53 pigs were found dead in a village adjacent to Agoratoli forest range in the park last month. These pigs were being reared by a local farmer and died of swine fever. Golaghat district administration has ordered a probe in to the incident and a team of veterinarians of Bokakhat subdivision has launched an inquiry into the matter.
Thereafter, forest staffs in Kaziranga recovered another 28 pig carcasses in the Brahmaputra. These too had died of swine fever in upstream areas such as Arunachal Pradesh and Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts in Assam, where a large number of pigs had died of African swine fever. “People threw away the carcasses in the Brahmaputra, which passes through Kaziranga. It is a serious cause of concern to wild lives in Kaziranga and hence the high alert has been sounded in and around the park,” said divisional forest officer (Kaziranga) Ramesh Gogoi, adding, “We have directed all veterinarians and forest staffs in Kaziranga to abstain from contact with pigs in the nearby areas to prevent transmission of swine fever to park animals.”