NATIONAL NEWS - The North West government has reported an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) that has killed pigs at a Wilgeboom farm in Potchefstroom.
This was announced by the provincial agriculture and rural development department in a statement on 9 April.
The department did not reveal how many pigs have been affected, or died, and was not available for comment.
It said the swine fever was revealed by a postmortem result after tissue samples were collected from pigs at the farm by a private veterinarian.
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The department said the situation at the farm was aggravated by a fact that the farm could not remove animals that had reached mature age for a month, due to a month-long quarantine period.
The department initially had planned to contain the spread of the virus by slaughtering healthy pigs at an abattoir and deboning the meat, and heat treating it so it was fit for consumption.
This process of deboning and heat treatment would have killed the virus, the department claimed.
