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The animal disease has now been detected in 34 dead wild boars
Photo: Reiner Bernhardt / imago images
In Brandenburg, all wild boars are to be killed near the core zone in which the first wild boars infected with African swine fever (ASF) were found in Germany.
This was announced by the Brandenburg Agriculture Minister Axel Vogel (Greens) after the meeting of the regional agriculture ministers in Weiskirchen in Saarland.
A commission of EU veterinarians had recommended the so-called "white zone", which covers an area within a radius of five kilometers and is to be delimited by a solid fence.
The crisis team to contain swine fever has now followed this recommendation.
Klöckner: Germany should become ASF-free again
African swine fever broke out in Brandenburg around two weeks ago.
The animal disease has now been detected in 34 dead wild boars, all of which were found in the same region.
ASF is harmless to humans, but not to domestic pigs: if the virus were to jump over, it would have fatal consequences.
Some virus strains kill 100 percent of the infected animals.
So far, however, the virus has not been detected in any domestic pig in Germany.
Several countries have already imposed import bans on pork from Germany because of the first known evidence.
The price of pork has fallen rapidly.
The federal and state governments have now assured each other of mutual support.
In a 17-point catalog, it was decided, among other things,
to examine
a model for
"solidarity financing" for wild boar fences
and
to significantly increase
the
hunt for wild boar
.
The ministers also agreed that farms in the
affected regions in Brandenburg should receive financial support
.
"Only hand in hand will we be able to fight the ASP in Germany," said Federal Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU).
The aim is for Germany to become "ASP-free" again.
But it is clear: "We have a long way to go, this is a marathon."
The animal disease is harmless to humans
The causative agent of swine fever is a DNA virus, such as herpes, papilloma and smallpox viruses.
Unlike these relatives, it is not dangerous for humans.
Even those who eat meat from infected animals cannot get sick from it.
However, the viruses are extremely resistant, they can survive for years and remain contagious - in frozen meat even for up to 1000 days.
The stability and the easy transferability via food or animal carcasses make containment so difficult - every sausage sandwich that travelers throw away at a rest area at the edge of the forest can infect a wild boar, every tire track on a truck can spread the disease.
In wild boars, the disease is similar to that in domestic pigs.
The animals are feverish and weak, have diarrhea and shortness of breath.
In Africa, the virus is found in warthogs and is transmitted to domestic pigs via leather ticks.
In Europe, the disease first appeared in Sardinia in 1978, but was able to be localized there despite repeated outbreaks.
Introduced into Georgia via contaminated food, the ASF virus then began to spread in Europe in 2007.
From Poland it has now reached Brandenburg.
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koe / dpa / Reuters
