Pork Traders Gather To Thwart Pig Cull

Dozens of pork traders were gathering at the Sheung Shui slaughterhouse on Sunday in an attempt to halt a government cull of 6,000 pigs.

Health officials declared the slaughterhouse an infected area after the discovery of a case of African swine fever in a pig imported from the mainland on Friday. They say the pigs must be killed and the site disinfected to stop the spread of the disease to local farms.

Traders have been told they will receive compensation at market value, but some argue that it's wrong to cull pigs which have not been infected with the disease.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan warned that the traders would be breaking the law if they tried to prevent the cull.

"It is illegal if they stop the people in the slaughterhouse from culling the pigs because we have already issued through our legislation that the Sheung Shui slaughterhouse is an infected area," she said after speaking on a radio programme.

"So firstly, we have to cull the 6,000 pigs, and secondly we have to clean and disinfect the site in order for the next batch of supplies from the mainland and other places to come in."

The African swine fever virus has devastated pork supplies on the mainland since the first case was recorded in August. By some estimates, one million pigs have been culled. The disease is deadly to pigs but does not affect humans.