Entry barred to Viljandi County potential ASF pigs burial zone
A one-month entry ban is in place at a Viljandi County site slated for possible burial of pigs culled due to the ongoing African swine fever (ASF) outbreak in Estonia.
The state Agriculture and Food Board (PTA) put the ban in place on the area in Põhja-Sakala municipality, which means moving through the zone is temporarily restricted, in an effort to curb the disease's spread.
Since preparatory work may take some time, the ban is in place already even if the site is not used.
"The use of a burial site is a solution that is applied only in extreme necessity and only when other options are exhausted," PTA Director General Raimo Heinam said.
The site is on state forestry commission (RMK) land: Õisu forest district 16 in the village of Metsküla, Põhja-Sakala municipality, Viljandi County, and the ban entered force at 10.00 a.m. today, September 1, and remains valid until 9 p.m. on September 30, or until further instruction is given.
Similar bans have been put in place at over nearly 30 large pig farms in Estonia since the first ASF cases of the current epidemic were detected in June. Cases in neighboring Latvia have also been detected.
The ban follows the relevant legislation, the Law Enforcement Act and the Veterinary Act, and means only authorized persons may enter the affected zone. Flying drones over the site is also forbidden.
Signage in Estonian informs the public of the restriction, and the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) can be summoned if these instructions are not heeded.
Burial site selection criteria included a need to be far from residential areas and also bodies of water, to mitigate the risk of groundwater pollution, following Estonian geological survey analysis.
Heinam said at a press conference last Friday that Estonia is considering the burial of slaughtered pigs or their transfer to a refuse facility in Latvia.
atvian authorities on Monday discovered an ASF outbreak in Laubere, east of Riga, at a farm which held a herd of 20,000 pigs.
Over 54,000 pigs have been or will be slaughtered due to ASF so far, with the most recent major case found last week. An additional 18,000 wild boar are to be culled this season in further efforts to stem the spread of ASF. The culls mostly take place in areas further away from the main ASF hotspots, predominantly in South Estonia.
More information on the ASF epidemic in Estonia is here.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Aleksander Krjukov
