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Friday, September 11, 2020
In the Brandenburg Spree-Neisse district, a wild boar dies of African swine fever. Now a kilometer-long electric fence is supposed to prevent further spread. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture has announced a ban on the export of German pork.
Brandenburg is securing the area where the first case of African swine fever was detected in Germany with an electric fence. The Potsdam Health Ministry announced that construction started in the afternoon. According to this, around a core zone, electric game protection fences with a radius of at least three kilometers will be built. According to the RBB, a fence with a length of up to twelve kilometers is planned in the Spree-Neisse district.
According to the Swine Fever Ordinance, entry to the central zone is largely prohibited, and vehicle traffic is also restricted there so that the pathogen is not transmitted through shoes or car tires. All farmers, pig farmers and hunters in the affected areas have been informed of the current situation, says Brandenburg Minister for Health and Consumer Protection Ursula Nonnemacher. “Now the central area around the site must be closed as quickly as possible.”
In addition to the core area, the so-called endangered area is currently marked with posters and information panels with a radius of 15 kilometers from the site. In this area there are restrictions of use for agriculture and forestry. “Everything in our power” will now be done to contain African swine fever and prevent further expansion if possible, said Agriculture Minister Axel Vogel. It is important to “keep negative consequences for animal owners and other farms low.”
Pork export stopped
The infected wild boar carcass was discovered Wednesday in a maize field harvested seven kilometers from the German-Polish border. The following day, the Federal Minister of Agriculture, Julia Klöckner, announced that the suspected case in the Spree-Neisse district had been confirmed after further tests. This is the first case of African swine fever in Germany. The virus is harmless to humans. For domestic pigs and wild boars, however, the epidemic is fatal.
Farmers fear great economic damage if it spreads. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture announced that German pork exports to China and other countries outside the EU should stop after the fall of Brandenburg. Most veterinary certificates for exporting pork to third countries contained the requirement that Germany must be free from African swine fever, he said. This requirement could no longer be certified from Thursday.
