Pigs face 'mass slaughter' in New Zealand

Pig farmers in northern New Zealand are considering a mass slaughter of their animals to stamp out an untreatable disease which kills young pigs, agriculture officials said.

Some 25 pig farms on New Zealand’s North Island are infected with post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), a disease first detected in the Waikato farm region of northern North Island last September.