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African swine fever kills 27 wild boars in Tamil Nadu
The African swine fever affects only wild boars and pigs who face sudden death with no marked symptoms
Chennai: As many as 27 wild boars have died of African swine fever in 10 days in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district, officials said.
All 27 died within a 2-to-3-kilometre radius in the Theppakadu region within the reserve. They had all contracted the highly infectious and fatal African swine fever, said D Venkatesh, field director, MTR. The African swine flu was reported in Kerala two months ago and a month ago in Karnataka’s Bandipur tiger reserve which is close to MTR. “19 wild boars died in Bandhipur. It could be one of the reasons why it has spread here,” said Venkatesh. However, there were no deaths on Thursday.
The first death was recorded on December 25 in Theppakadu. “And in the two days immediately after that, we found two more carcasses. The deaths seemed similar to those in Bandipur so we sent their samples for testing and formed two teams to comb through bushes and water bodies to inspect the area in the morning and nights which is how we found all the 27,” the field director said.
The African swine fever affects only wild boars and pigs who face sudden death with no marked symptoms. Officials in MTR had sent samples from the carcass to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Regional Laboratory in Coimbatore and Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) to ascertain the exact cause of death. “IVRI has now confirmed that it is due to the African swine fever,” said Venkatesh. “There is no need to panic as it does not affect human beings and other wild animals.”
Still as a precaution, forest officials have cordoned off the elephant camp at Theppakadu which houses captive elephants so that wild boars don’t enter. There is no census of how many wild boars are present in MTR. So far, the 27 boars who died belong to different age groups and are of both male and female gender. Officials have formed teams including veterinarians to stop the virus spread.
The post mortem examination of the carcass showed internal haemorrhage of the wild boars. Following the autopsy the carcass is burnt so that the virus doesn’t spread from their remains.
