Unlimited Wild Boar Hunting in Germany

Germany pulls out extra weapons to fight African swine fever. The German cabinet decided on Wednesday 21 February to introduce more preventive measures; for example, wild boar can now be hunted without restrictions.

With the new measures, Germany is transposing the European Union (EU) implementing decision on African swine fever into national law. This means that the German Ministry of Agriculture may intervene immediately if the disease is detected.

It has also been decided that wild boars are now allowed all year round be hunted, with the exception of dams with young. This is an attempt to reduce the number of wild boars. Wild boars are considered to be one of the main spreaders of African swine fever. Previously, the hunting season was from mid-June to the end of January.

Outbreak Regulations
In the event of an outbreak, the following measures will take effect:

• Vehicles (with meat, kitchen waste or the like) returning from an infected area must be disinfected.
• Pig farms (in an affected area) that want to market their animals must first have them tested for African swine fever.
• Hay and straw from an affected area may also no longer be used in pig farming.

Meat from infected area
Unlike before, pork from an infected area is not necessarily worthless when African swine fever has been detected in wild boars. Pork from an infected area should no longer be sold under the old legislation. This entailed major risks of loss of value. Now, under certain circumstances, the meat is allowed to enter the regular sales channels.

According to the ISN (the German representative) the proposed measures are a good thing; in particular the easing of marketing pork from an infected area. This reduces the risks for pig farmers and slaughterhouses in the event of an outbreak. The bill still needs to be approved by the Federal Council in Germany. This decision will probably be made on Friday 2 March.

Wouter Job

Wouter Baan is Head of Meat & Dairy at BoerenbusinessAt DCA Market Intelligence, he focuses on dairy, pork, and meat markets. He also monitors (business) developments within agribusiness and interviews CEOs and policymakers.

w.baan@boerenbusiness. Nl

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