Disease outbreak forces pig cull

By ANNE BESTON and NZPA

Hundreds of pigs will be slaughtered in a bid to contain a fatal pig disease found in New Zealand for the first time.

But it seems too late to eradicate the disease, post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), which does not threaten human health.

The disease, which affects piglets that have recently been weaned, has killed a number of animals in the Waikato.

Pork Industry Board chief executive Angus Davidson said a final decision had not been made on whether to kill all 480 sows and their offspring on three North Island farms where the disease had been found.

The farmers involved had agreed to the cull in principle and the board was now discussing compensation with them.

"From the information we have from the Northern Hemisphere, we have to try and contain it, but this gives us only a 50-50 chance," he said.

Most of the pigs would be slaughtered through abattoirs and their meat sold.

There was no risk to human health and no food safety issues from PMWS, which would have no effect on the price of pork.

The disease was "right through" Europe and North America, said Mr Davidson.

A Waikato farm is understood to have lost at least a third of its piglets in the initial outbreak, revealed in September, and 15 farms in the North Island have been investigated.

The ministry is restricting the movement of pigs and pig semen between the North and South Island. But it said the disease could not be eradicated.