Reason behind the mysterious death of wild pigs can not be ascertained

The carcasses of the animals, believed to be wild boar, found a few days ago on the Tlabung Sub-Division’s De Lui bank have decayed heavily and remained impossible to collect tissue samples for further investigation. The shocking discovery came to light after social media posts a few days ago and widely speculated that the deaths were suspected to be linked to African Swine Fever, a deadly viral swine disease which is currently sweeping through several towns and villages including Tlabung in Mizoram’s Lunglei district. To confirm the cause of the deaths, both the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department and Environment, Forests and Climate Change department jointly sent a team of experts to carry out a thorough investigation on Saturday.

However, by the time the team sent on behalf of the department concerned arrived at the scene, only a few bones were seen with no flesh left. It was believed that the bodies were devoured by a bear that was believed to live close. “The weather was extremely hot. Because of that we believe the carcasses were heavily decayed. And a fresh bear’s footprints were also spotted in the vicinity,” an officer of AH & Vety department in Tlabung said.

While a social media post that subsequently went viral claimed that around 17 carcasses of wild boars were spotted on the river bank, the inspection team managed to collect as many as 25 bones. “Things get even more intriguing. But, it is crystal clear that at least 25 wild boars must have died due to the unknown reason.” an official of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department said. “As the outbreak of African Swine Fever is yet to be withdrawn, our team members were disinfecting the area in a bid to prevent the possible more damaging situation,” the official added.