Half a Million Pigs at Risk as Deadly Fever Returns to Americas
- Dominican Republic struggles to control African swine fever
- U.S. tightens controls on flights arriving from the country
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The Dominican Republic may have to slaughter more than 500,000 pigs -- or about half of its herd -- to curb the first outbreak of African swine fever in the Americas in four decades, according to a senior agricultural official.
Rafael Abel, president of the Chamber of Deputies’ Agricultural Commission, said the government needs to kill 100% of both sick and healthy pigs in 11 of the Dominican Republic’s 33 provinces where the disease has been detected.