Meghalaya has recorded the death of 30 pigs from the first week of May to May 15 due to classical swine fever.
This was informed by deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong in Assembly on Wednesday while replying to a call attention motion moved by opposition Congress legislator Process T Sawkmie.
Sawkmie claimed that many pigs have died under Mawlai assembly constituency and urged the government to provide compensation either in cash or piglets to the piggery owners who have lost their livelihood now as the pigs they reared have died.
“The samples of the dead pigs were sent to the Indian Council Agriculture Research (ICAR), Umïam and the reports attributed the mortalities to Classical Swine Fever,” Tynsong said.
Tynsong, who is also in-charge of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department, said the Classical Swine Fever was not a deadly disease.
He added that the mortality rate was only 1.4 percent and the vaccine for the illness is available.
“The disease does not spread to human being. The disease spreads among pigs and its symptoms are high fever, loss of appetite and discoloration of eyes, thighs and other parts of the body. Therefore, there is no threat to humans,” he said.