With an outbreak of the PEDv on an Alberta hog farm on January 7, a report in an Australian farm website, BeefCentral.com free online premium news and market intelligence service dedicated to the Australian beef industry about the African Swine Fever paled the Alberta story.
The Banff Pork Seminar spent many of its sessions on how do we keep this dreaded disease from devastating the Canadian pig industry, and devastate it would; should officials detect this disease anywhere on Canadian soil.
Are we overreacting, I don’t think so because there is no cure for it other than total eradication but mind you; it is not a threat to human health in no way shape or form.
It is hard to imagine what producers who enter their pig barns every morning do or feel if they spot a sick pig and for a minute don’t know what is causing the illness. Sick animals and diseases are nothing new, around since the beginning of time, but since January 2014 the first PEDv outbreak in Canada producers in Manitoba and east hate to see anything piglet sniffling knowing the hardship to clean up the dreaded mess. Then along comes ASF in China with a huge outbreak the scenario changes. PEDv the industry can eradicate, AFS not so easy.
Back to Australia, Beef Central reported how AFS sent a sharp wake-up call for all livestock industries because officials detected it in samples of pig meat smuggled into Australia through the post or by incoming travellers in their luggage, the Department of Agriculture has confirmed. The samples detected at international airports and mail processing centres were destroyed and did not escape into the domestic Australian pig population, the department has also confirmed.
Even before this report, Dr. Egan Brockhoff, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with Prairie Swine Health Services encouraged Canadian Border Services to get more detector dogs and to provide more information to travellers about the risks of bringing meat into the country.
Early last year the PHC reported how International livestock consultant and veterinarian Dr. John Carr who also lectures in Australia where he lives said Poland had ASF for 5-to-10 years or more … they kind of have it under control as it’s mainly in the wild boars.
“But unfortunately it had slow spread westward and then ultimately into Germany … about 5-10 more years I think,” said Carr. When the Japanese detected the ASF virus in luggage at Hokkaido airport, Japan, he said that’s great news for Japan but a wake-up call for the rest of us.
“The Japanese had on heightened alert after their classical swine fever outbreak some time ago,” said Dr. Carr. “But we do need the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the CFIA to step up to the challenge and think about visitors from China more – even more dogs at the airport would help.”
Yep, Dr. Carr reported that a year ago.
“The message is don’t take your pork to the farms you work in, don’t smuggle pork from someplace where this disease is, and by all means, step up your biosecurity by any means that meet the strict guidelines set out by the powers that be.” •
— By Harry Siemens
