Alarming situation of dumping dead pigs into the environment, causing pollution and increasing the risk of disease spread in Nghe An
In many localities in Nghe An, people have recently been dumping dead pigs into canals, rivers and streams, causing serious environmental pollution and posing a risk of spreading diseases, especially African swine fever.
In recent days, in Minh Chau commune, people have been uneasy when witnessing dead pigs, in the process of decomposition, floating in the middle of the N2 canal - the canal that brings water to serve agricultural production of hundreds of households in the area.
Ms. To Thao - a resident living next to N2 canal, Minh Chau commune shared: This canal often has animal carcasses floating down, especially in the past few days, very large pigs have been thrown into the canal, decomposed and giving off a foul smell. We do not know where these pig carcasses floated down from. Her family had to scoop the carcasses up to self-destruct, otherwise they would continue to float downstream.
Minh Chau Commune authorities also confirmed this situation. Mr. Le The Hieu - Vice Chairman of Minh Chau Commune People's Committee said: In the past week, the locality has received and handled 3 batches of floating pig carcasses, each batch of 1-2 pigs. These pigs were all heavily decomposed, the origin could not be determined, the commune urgently collected and destroyed them by digging deep holes, combining with sprinkling lime and chemicals to prevent the spread of pathogens.
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However, the biggest difficulty is that it is very difficult to track down the person who dumped the dead pigs for handling, because the N2 canal flows from many communes in Yen Thanh district (old), through many localities before flowing to Minh Chau commune, which is the downstream area. Currently, Minh Chau commune is conducting a survey and installing nets on this canal to prevent the situation of animal carcasses flowing through.
A similar situation also occurred in Quang Chau commune. Since July 10, the commune has discovered and destroyed 5 dead pigs floating along major irrigation canals such as canal 142 from Dong Thanh commune to Quang Chau commune and canal N8 from Bara Do Luong to Quang Chau commune.
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Ms. Dinh Thi Trang - Head of the Economic Department of Quang Chau Commune said: Immediately after receiving information from people about the appearance of dead pigs floating on the canals, the commune government urgently mobilized forces, vehicles, and machinery to collect and destroy them according to the correct procedure.
However, the treatment process encountered many difficulties because the dead pigs were heavily decomposed and gave off a foul smell. Some excavator owners refused to support because of concerns about pollution and damage to equipment, forcing the commune to contact many places before being able to handle the treatment. In addition, finding a sanitary burial site was also a big obstacle, because it was impossible to bury in residential areas or garden land, but had to find land far away to avoid spreading pathogens.
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It is known that not only in Quang Chau and Minh Chau communes, the situation of dumping dead pigs into the environment has appeared in many other localities in Nghe An province during the recent epidemics. Along the Vinh River section through Vinh Tan ward (old), now Truong Vinh ward, along Lam river or at Le Xuan Dao canal in Hung Nguyen district (old), people have also discovered dead pigs floating and being thrown haphazardly into the river many times. This shows that this is no longer a new phenomenon but has become a painful problem, difficult to handle thoroughly in recent times.
It is known that Nghe An province currently has a total herd of up to 1 million pigs, African swine fever is still re-emerging in many localities such as: Hoa Quan, Anh Son, Dai Dong, Yen Xuan, Tam Dong, Quan Thanh, Giai Lac...
Through the discussion, Mr. Tran Vo Ba - Deputy Head of the Provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine said: Localities need to be more drastic in monitoring and preventing the act of dumping dead pigs into the environment. It is possible to implement measures at the same time, such as increasing patrol forces, installing nets at the end of the canal, and even arranging surveillance cameras at "hot" spots...
According to Decree 90/2017/ND-CP of the Government regulating administrative sanctions in the veterinary field: Acts of transporting or dumping sick or dead livestock and poultry and their products into the environment will be fined 5 - 6 million VND, and violators may also be forced to destroy the livestock or related products.
If the violation causes serious consequences such as widespread disease spread, endangering the community, individuals or organizations may be prosecuted criminally according to the provisions of law, not only as an administrative measure but also as a strong deterrent, to protect the living environment and public health.