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Fence to protect against African swine fever: Agriculture Minister Backhaus speaks of a "difficult day"
Photo: Jens Büttner / dpa
African swine fever (ASF) has been detected in a wild boar in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
This was announced by the responsible ministry for climate protection, agriculture, rural areas and the environment.
A dead male rookie was found during a driven hunt in the Marnitz district in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district.
Investigations of the newborn had shown a high load of the African swine fever virus, it said.
A spokeswoman said, according to the German press agency, that the newbie was found last Friday.
At the time, however, there was no concrete suspicion that the animal was carrying the virus.
Area should be fenced off
The veterinary office should now take measures together with the Ministry of Agriculture to prevent the spread of the disease and to get an overview of the actual infection process.
Now restricted areas are to be set up.
The core area around the site should be fenced off in the coming days.
Agriculture Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) spoke of a "difficult day".
Exactly what happened »which we absolutely wanted to prevent.
Now it is important that we work through the case thoroughly with all the authorities involved.
The authorities in Brandenburg are already involved, as the restricted zones to be set up will extend into the neighboring federal state, "Backhaus was quoted as saying.
Deadly to pigs
The virus was only detected in a fattening farm near Güstrow in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania last week.
The 4,000 or so pigs were then to be killed and disposed of by a specialist company within three days under the strictest safety precautions.
ASF is a serious viral infection.
It is usually fatal to wild and domestic pigs.
The virus is contagious for months in raw meat, cured or smoked meat products such as some ham and sausages.
This is not a problem for humans, for them the pathogen is harmless - however, it can be spread through raw meat and reach other animal populations.
ptz
