Fear of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks have prompted the ban of pigs from the 2022 Melbourne Royal Show in Australia.
Show organizers made the difficult decision because pigs are amplifiers of JEV and represent a higher FMD risk through swill feeding, ABC News reports.
One of the veterinarians for this year’s show, Rob Bonanno, said he fully supported the move because of the “slightly heightened” risk.
In addition to no pig show, there will also be no display in the children’s petting nursery. Foot mats will also be provided at the entry of the nursery and livestock pavilion. Visitors to the show will also be restricted from the back half of the livestock pavilion in a bid to minimize biosecurity risks.
The Royal Melbourne Show runs from Sept. 22 to Oct. 2.
Meanwhile, organizers of the Perth Royal Show will be ramping up biosecurity measures with hand sanitizer and sanitizing foot mats during its show running from Sept. 24 until Oct. 1. However, organizers believe the risk of FMD outbreak is low. Concern remains about the fear of FMD because of neighboring Indonesia’s outbreak of the deadly livestock disease, ABC News reports.
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