Expert: Gathering around an ASF positive farm completely unacceptable
Timo Vunder, chair of the Estonian Pig Breeding Association, told ERR that the protest around Nurme farm was completely unacceptable. He said Estonia had done everything necessary to verify the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak, though he understood the public frustration caused by numerous negative test results.
Do you have confidence that state agencies are currently managing the containment of this dangerous disease in the best possible way?
Today, we do have that confidence. From that one positive case, three samples were taken and sent to a reference laboratory in Spain, which also confirmed the positive result. The sample that tested positive was, without question, positive, and we have no grounds whatsoever to suggest otherwise. Since the additional samples taken from there — those 30 samples — all came back negative, this may create some confusion or misunderstanding among people. But one positive is still a positive.
Has the state done everything possible to limit the spread of the plague?
We have been in contact with the state and have long discussed the need to hunt wild boar more actively. This hunting should be strongly incentivized, ensuring that after the animals are hunted, there is something to do with the meat — either compensating hunters for the game or processing it into canned products. In fact, the meat is clean and tests have been conducted, but it cannot currently be sold commercially except as canned goods. As a result, game processors have little interest in dealing with it, which is certainly an obstacle, because hunters simply cannot eat it all themselves.
Do pig farmers receive compensation for the destruction of their pigs?
Partially, yes. The pigs that are destroyed are weighed, and if all biosecurity requirements have been properly met, they are compensated. But there are many other aspects that are not covered. For example, if a farm is left empty for three months, the farmer still needs to place the animals somewhere and find another location. If the main herd is destroyed, it can take almost a year before a new herd can be brought in and new piglets are born. In that sense, the financial compensation certainly does not cover everything. It helps, but not in full.
Another problem is with the processing industry. If pigs have been sent to processors and there is suspicion they came from a farm that tested positive for the virus, products are recalled to ensure everything is safe and to show that our country has acted as it should. But in such cases, the costs fall on the processors themselves.
What do you expect from society? Was the pressure on the Agriculture and Food Board to wait for the repeat tests from Spain justified?
In fact, the owners of the company had already agreed to this before the reference laboratory's decision. The sample was positive and the outbreak site was set for culling. At some point, it will be possible to bring pigs back in, and once everything is disinfected, the permit would be granted.
The response from the Spanish laboratory only confirmed the work of our own lab. In that regard, nothing changed. The fact that there was only one positive pig and no others today has caused some frustration. I'm not a virologist, but virologists would say there are incubation periods and other factors. In reality, people gathering around a farm that has tested positive for the virus is unacceptable. If people claim they care about animals, they should stay away from all pig farms.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski, Johanna Alvin
