On 14 June 2024, a wild boar was shot in Germany in the state of Hessen, 150 kilometres from the Belgian border, because it had behavioural problems. The following day, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (German national reference laboratory) detected the African swine fever (ASF) virus in the sample taken from this wild boar.
“The virus is therefore close to our borders. It is therefore essential to detect its possible introduction as early as possible to limit its spread. This disease causes high mortality in wild boar populations. Consequently, any wild boar carcass is likely to be infected by the ASF virus and must be tested, except for animals involved in road accidents,” specifies the Public Service of Wallonia.
No risk to humans
As a reminder, African swine fever is a viral disease that exclusively affects domestic pigs and wild boars. It is almost always fatal for these animals. but does not pose any risk to humans.
Currently, no vaccine is available and this virus is particularly resistant in the environment. Transmission can occur through direct contact between animals, but also through contaminated materials (hunting trophies, hunting clothing, boots, vehicles, etc.).
What to do if you find a dead wild boar?
If you find a dead wild boar that has not been injured in Wallonia, please immediately inform the Department of Nature and Forests (DNF) of the Walloon Public Service:
How to prevent the virus from reaching Belgium?
If you are travelling to Germany or other infected regions such as Italy, here are three recommendations to follow to prevent the disease from being introduced into Belgium:
- Do not bring pork back to Belgium
- Throw your food scraps in a closed bin.
- Don’t feed your food scraps to pigs
For further information please see the web page dedicated to African swine fever in Wallonia on the Walloon biodiversity portal.
