Latest news in brief on African swine fever

In the course of the consultations of the local expert group of the district, close cooperation with representatives of the Saxony-Anhalt Pig Association, farmers and farmers' associations as well as hunters' associations at the district and state level is being built upon. So far, a dedicated vehicle disinfection sluice and 25 km of protective fencing have been purchased. In addition to information and education campaigns, billboard campaigns along the main roads are also being promoted to raise awareness of hygiene when handling hunted game.

Within the scope of the state-wide wild boar monitoring, 58 blood samples of wild boars have been examined for notifiable animal diseases in the Landkreis Börde so far. In addition, blood samples from conspicuous or dead wild boar are explicitly examined for ASF. Citizens are encouraged to report fallen (dead) or behaving feral swine to local authorities.

The implications of an outbreak of this economically significant animal disease are far-reaching. Basically, in addition to the loss of valuable breeding stock and food-producing livestock, the economic damage will be very great if ASF is positively detected. Pig farming cannot be considered in isolation and detached from upstream and downstream industries. This includes the feed industry, the breeding and fattening of pigs, the slaughter and cutting plants, the livestock trading companies with the corresponding forwarding companies and professional drivers and the domestic agriculture in the true sense.