Germany Begins Border Fence to Stem Deadly Hog Fever
Germany Begins Border Fence to Stem Deadly Hog Fever
(Bloomberg) -- German authorities began building a metal fence along the border with Poland to counter an outbreak of a deadly swine disease that’s hit German pork exports, as the number of cases climbed to 32.
Officials in the eastern state of Brandenburg are building an initial 11-kilometer (6.8 mile) hinge-joint barrier to halt wild boar at risk of carrying African swine fever, the state consumer protection ministry said in a statement. The barrier will trace the Neisse and Oder rivers that make up the German-Polish border.
“This is an effective measure, but it’s not a cure-all,” the deputy minister, Anna Heyer-Stuffer, said in the statement.
Three more wild boar carcasses tested positive for the illness, which is not harmful to humans. All of the cadavers have been found in a 150 square-kilometer (58 square-mile) area in Brandenburg, southeast of Berlin, according to the ministry. The disease has been confined to wild boar, rather than livestock.
The appearance of African swine fever in Europe’s biggest hog-producing nation triggered import bans, even as European Union authorities said they were unwarranted because the disease was only found in a region of Germany.
Forestry officials are using drones and dogs to track down dead feral pigs that might be infected, Carsten Lessner of the state agriculture ministry said.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.