“There have been reports of wild boar staying in landfills and eating the garbage. This sounds very alarming to my ears and if I’m not mistaken, this is how it is believed that ASF took hold in Sicily,” wrote Mikael Hultnäs, national wildlife conservation consultant at the National Association of Hunters, in an email to the Swedish Agricultural Agency in November 2021.
The authority thanked them for the information, but since then Hultnäs has heard nothing more.
– Firstly, I want to say that it is very tragic for everyone affected now. The wild boar, the domestic animal owners, the hunters and everyone else. The continued work will reveal how the infection spread, he tells Jakt & Jägare.
Daniel Ligné, national hunting care consultant at the Swedish Hunter Association, says The hunting journal that he also received information about wild boar at the dump.
Map: Swine fever has spread here.
Map: Swine fever has spread here.
“Unexpectedly”
– That swine fever would appear in Fagersta was unexpected, but as far as I understand, there have been some problems with wild boar around the landfill. It is likely that the infection is connected to it, says Ligné.
If swine fever spreads to pigs, it could have major consequences for both the pig industry in Sweden and Swedish exports of pork.
– This has been feared for a long time. Already yesterday, there was a meeting for the pig producers in Sweden to inform about the situation, says Palle Bergström, chairman of the Confederation of Farmers’ Confederation.
1000 square kilometers
Restrictions have been introduced in an area of almost 1,000 square kilometers and the state’s veterinary medical institution, SVA, will now search the zone for more dead wild boars. The plan is to enlist the help of hunters who have good local knowledge.
According to the Swedish Agency for Agriculture, there is no commercial pig breeding in the area, only small farms with a few animals. But a little to the south there are several pig producers and if the infection reaches there, the consequences can be devastating.
– We do everything we can to prevent that from happening, but if it were to happen, that herd will be slaughtered, most will die of their own accord from the disease, but it will also mean that Sweden will suffer from export restrictions to other countries for example, says Palle Bergström.
– It will mean huge additional costs in transport and slaughterhouses because of how the animals have to be separated, he continues.
Samples will be taken on all the pigs found in the affected area – then the pigs will be burned, reports say The evening paper.