Bulgarian veterinarians reported an outbreak of African swine fever at an industrial farm with 13,000 pigs in the village of Apriltsi.
Bulgaria’s Food Safety Agency said it would kill all pigs that had been in contact with the infected animals and set up a three-km quarantine zone around the farm to stop the spread of the disease.
African swine fever is an infectious viral disease in domestic and wild pigs. The disease can result in death, but animals can also recover from it.
So far, authorities worldwide kill entire pig populations when African swine fever is detected.
At the beginning of August, the Dominican Republic killed thousands of pigs after African swine fever outbreaks in eleven provinces. Germany, Malaysia and Poland have also been battling the disease this year.
The Animal Reader is an animal news organisation and posts daily articles about animals. We need your help to continue reporting on animal welfare and animal rights. If you can, please consider supporting our work.