African swine fever virus wreaks havoc in 12 of Romania’s counties

The swine fever virus is spreading in the southeast and northwest of Romania and culling operations are underway

Daniela Budu, 11.09.2018, 13:22

Over 800 African swine fever outbreaks have been reported on Romania’s territory, in hundreds of localities from over a quarter of Romania’s counties, recent data provided by the National Sanitary Veterinarian and Food Safety Authority show. So far, as many as 160 thousand pigs have been culled.

Swine fever outbreaks have been recently identified in the counties of Giurgiu and Galati, both in the southeast. Measures continue to be enforced to stop the spreading of the virus and checks are being conducted in these areas.

Meanwhile, the authorities have started to pay damages to the pig farmers affected by the swine fever crisis. So far, they have received more than 500 thousand lei in damages, which is about 108 thousand Euros, but the total value of damages assessed in pig farms and households exceeds 47million lei, almost 10 million Euros.

In order to prevent the spreading of the African swine fever the government decided upon the hunting, as of December 1, of more than 80 thousand wild boars. Hunters say that killing so many boars in such a short while will be a difficult mission and the hunting stock for the next years will be seriously affected.

Wild boars play an important role in spreading the African swine fever virus, but other animal species are also at risk. Sorin Birceanu, the director of the Gorj County Association of Amateur Hunters and Anglers gives us more details:

Sorin Birceanu: “The crisis will affect us a lot, just imagine to what extent the wild boar population will be diminished as well as other game species.”

The Agriculture Ministry officials announced they last week presented the Presidential Administration with a document about the emergence and evolution of the African swine fever virus in Romania, following the public statements made by President Iohannis.

The document details the manner in which the authorities acted to prevent, fight and eradicate the African swine fever virus. President Klaus Iohannis criticized the government for the way it managed this crisis accusing it of incompetence. The General Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal file related to the epidemics. Prosecutors are investigating possible crimes that led to the spreading of the disease to animals or plants and professional negligence.