SHAL­IZA HAS­SANALI

More than 250 pigs will have to be culled and buried fol­low­ing T&T’s first con­firmed case this year of Porcine Re­pro­duc­tive and Res­pi­ra­to­ry Syn­drome (PRRS), the Min­istry of Agri­cul­ture has con­firmed.

The af­fect­ed an­i­mals be­long to Waller­field farmer Bri­an Ma­turine, whose herd test­ed pos­i­tive for the high­ly con­ta­gious swine dis­ease on Ju­ly 21. The con­fir­ma­tion came just weeks af­ter the min­istry an­nounced the de­tec­tion of PRRS in ear­ly Ju­ly. Last year, the dis­ease was found on a farm in south Trinidad.