More than 250 personnel, including agents from the Mossos d’Esquadra, Rural Agents, the Barcelona Urban Guard and local police mobilized in a wide-ranging effort to contain the outbreak of swine fever with its epicenter in the area of the Collserola mountain range, Barcelona.
As Catalan executive sources informed EFE, among the mobilized personnel there are also representatives of civil protection associations from the different affected municipalities.
The Government of Catalonia promised this Sunday, November 30th, “zero tolerance” for people who disrespect the restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the swine fever outbreak, as the expansion of the virus would have “harmful” consequences.
According to the Agriculture advisor, Òscar Ordeig, the Mossos d’Esquadra and other security forces have instructions to be “forceful” when it comes to ensuring compliance with the restrictions imposed by the Generalitat, especially the ban on access to the Collserola park, even if people act “involuntarily or accidentally”.
On Friday, the Portuguese Directorate-General for Food and Veterinary (DGAV) called for the reinforcement of safety measures against African swine fever (ASF) after it was detected in wild boars in Barcelona.
“The official Veterinary Services of Spain confirmed two cases of African swine fever in wild boars, detected in Bellaterra (Barcelona), close to the campus of the Autonomous University of Barcelona,” DGAV announced in a statement.
After the disease was confirmed, emergency measures were adopted, such as delimiting the infected area, disposing of corpses and banning hunting.
In this sense, DGAV called for compliance with safety measures on farms, cleaning and disinfection of vehicles, as well as the adoption of good hunting practices.
On the other hand, he said that by-products must be correctly disposed of and that feeding pigs with washing, kitchen and table waste is prohibited.
DGAV also asked that food remains not be left accessible to wild boars.
ASF does not pose a risk to humans, but it has a high mortality rate in pigs and wild boars.