News African swine fever
Fence against AVP on Polish-German border
The advancing African swine fever in the German-Polish border region is keeping people busy. Carcasses of infected wild boars have now been found in Poland, just 40 kilometers from the German border. As an attempt to stop the animal disease, the German state of Brandenburg is going to place a fence.
The highest alert phase is in effect in Brandenburg. This state borders on African swine fever infected area in western Poland† In order to prevent the introduction of disease, a fence will be placed on the border of the state with the infected Polish districts. The fence will be 120 kilometers long and 90 centimeters high. Depending on the risk of contamination, the fence will remain in place for a limited time.
A fence as a prevention measure is not new. Neighboring Denmark already completed a at the beginning of this month 70 kilometers long fence on the border with Germany. Since there was almost a year between planning and realization in Denmark, the question arises whether the German fence will be ready in time to prevent further spread.
More preventive measures
The fence is not the only measure Brandenburg is taking to prevent entry. The hunt for wild boars has been stepped up before. There are also extra checks for dead boars in a strip of 15 kilometers along the German-Polish border. The sooner an infected cadaver is found, the greater the chance of being ahead of any possible spread.
6 other provinces and the cities of Cottbus and Frankfurt have also been ordered by the German ministry to significantly increase the hunt. In addition, the Ministry of Food Safety wants a blood sample to be taken from every dead boar found on the German-Polish border region.
The states of Saxony and Saarland are also busy keeping AVP at bay. In Saxony, for example, cages are practiced to catch wild boars (in the event of an outbreak). The West German Saarland trains sniffer dogs to detect cadavers and infected animals. The threat there is a result of the outbreaks in Belgium.
Fear among pig farmers
German pig farmers are closely monitoring the situation. Spreading is a real disaster. When the virus emerges in Germany, exports outside the EU will most likely be restricted. With an annual export of 890.000 tons of pork to non-EU countries, this would be a huge financial loss.
The Netherlands will probably also be the victims of the border closure. Germany is the main importer of live pigs and piglets for the Netherlands. Every week, between 20.000 and 30.000 finishers and around 80.000 piglets cross the border.
Jorine Cosse
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