Antique capital prohibits backyard slaughter of hogs

Backyard slaughter of hogs in San Jose de Buenavista, Antique is now prohibited to prevent the spread of the African swine fever (ASF).

Executive Order number 42 issued by Mayor Elmer Untaran on June 27, 2023, said hogs would only be slaughtered at the municipal abattoir in Barangay San Pedro and need a health certificate from the barangay where they came from.

The first confirmed cases of ASF in this provincial capital were from a hog farm in Barangay Bugarot on June 23.

Antique Provincial Veterinary Office Public Health Division chief Dr. Marco Rafael Ardamil said the slaughter of swine and the circulation of boars for insemination are being considered “super spreaders” of ASF.

Ardamil added that based on the experience of Hamtic, where index cases were recorded, hogs were slaughtered in backyards and sold to ambulant vendors since the municipality has no slaughterhouse.

“ASF had spread fast in Hamtic because the slaughtered hogs were not monitored in the absence of a slaughterhouse,” he said.

It is also necessary for the barangay captain to issue a certification to make sure that hogs are not suffering from any signs and symptoms of the disease, Ardamil said.

In addition to the banning of backyard slaughter, the EO has temporarily suspended the “circulation of boars for insemination purposes” until the town registers a zero-ASF status.

The municipal agriculture office of San Jose de Buenavista reported 44 mortalities in Barangays Bugarot, Maybato Sur, Maybato North, and Bariri as of June 26.

Only Bugarot has confirmed ASF cases while the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Center of the Department of Agriculture is yet to release the result of samples taken from the three other barangays.

Meanwhile, Ardamil said that they had a verbal agreement with the Iloilo City Veterinarian to transport healthy hogs from the towns of Hamtic and San Jose de Buenavista to the regional capital where the demand for pork is high.

“Iloilo City is already considered a red zone or has ASF cases since last year that it could accept for trading the hogs in Antique,” he said.

Hamtic, as of the June 26 report of its Municipal Agriculture Office, some 2,335 hog mortalities in 28 barangays with an estimated damage of PHP22,682,500. (PNA)