Aizawl: After a brief let-up in casualty and culling of pigs due to ASF, Mizoram Thursday recorded a surge in pig deaths and cull at 33 and 26 respectively.
This comes at a time when animal husbandry and veterinary officials were hoping the outbreak would be contained with the onset of winter. They said the sudden surge in pig deaths and culling was due to the infection spreading to private-owned large piggery farms in Lungdai and Lungrang South villages.
The officials said 33 pigs died in three districts Thursday, of which 31 alone were in Lungdai village in Kolasib district bordering Assam, while 22 pigs were culled in Lungrang South village of southern Mizoram's Lunglei district bordering Bangladesh.
Neither deaths nor culling of pigs were reported on Dec 7, 8 and 9. Twenty-three pigs were culled on Tuesday. One pig died on Wednesday, but none were culled.
The total number of pig casualties during this year has risen to 14,906 as of Thursday with 258 villages being declared as infected by the veterinary department. At least 24,176 pigs have been culled so far this year to prevent further spread of ASF.