State Capitol. (RI photo)
The Iowa legislature is planning to spend an extra $750,000 to prepare for a possible outbreak of African Swine Fever. The virus, which causes severe bleeding and death, has killed pigs in the Caribbean Islands.
“It would be devastating for Iowa agriculture and the Iowa economy if it ever came here, so we’re trying to be as prepared as we can,” Republican Representative Norlin Mommsen of DeWitt says. “All we have to do is look at Avian Influenza and how that’s upset the poultry market and how that affected egg prices and food prices.”
The Senate has already approved a budget for the Iowa Department of Agriculture that includes $250,000 toward development of a vaccine and $250,000 to buy equipment to euthanize pigs. Mommsen says it ensures state officials could quickly respond at the first report of an Iowa herd getting African Swine Fever.
“There comes a point in time when the only response is to euthanize the animals and do it as humanely and quickly as possible to stop the spread, so we want to make sure we have the proper equipment here if that ever were to occur,” Mommsen says. “My hope is it rusts and never gets used.”
The House is expected to approve the budget bill for the Ag Department this week. It includes another $250,000 boost to the state’s program for responding to an outbreak of a foreign animal disease. “We already had $750,000 in a Foreign Animal Disease Preparedness program,” Mommsen says. “There’s a veterinarian hired, running that program, so this is in addition to all of that trying to upgrade our facility and our preparedness.”
According to the Iowa Pork Producers Association, on a typical day there are about 24 million hogs in Iowa. African Swine Fever is not a threat to humans, but once a pig is infected it is highly contagious to other pigs — and the mortality rate is at least 95%.