The state government is aware of the impending danger of African swine fever being introduced into Hesse, writes the State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment, Oliver Conz, in his current response to a parliamentary question from the FDP parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament.

He rates the current risk as "high".

By its own admission, Conz shares the assessment of the Federal Research Institute for Animal Health FLI.

Above all, the risk of transporting and disposing of contaminated food waste plays a role here.

Ewald Hetrodt

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung in Wiesbaden.

  • Follow I follow

The animal disease first appeared in the east of the Black Continent at the beginning of the last century.

British farmers kept domestic pigs that suddenly died.

In 2014 the disease found its way to Europe via Georgia.

The first cases in Germany were confirmed in Brandenburg on the Polish border in September 2020.

The construction of a protective fence 460 kilometers long and about one meter high began along the Oder-Neisse border.

In October 2020, the viral disease was detected in wild boars in Saxony.

It then reached Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in November 2021.

Home is affected.

and wild boars.

Most of them perish.

The virus is transmitted through direct contact with infected animals or their carcasses, as well as through contaminated material such as agricultural equipment, hunting utensils, clothing, feed or food waste.

Safe for humans

African swine fever is harmless to humans. However, it poses an economic threat to farmers. Important importing countries such as China have imposed an import ban on pork from Germany, which does not always differentiate between the different regions, i.e. also affects Hesse. The loss of sales markets in international competition is associated with a drop in prices.

Detecting an outbreak as early as possible is the basis for rapid control, explains Conz. The Hessian Ministry of the Environment has established a comprehensive monitoring program. For example, hunters receive an expense allowance of 50 euros for each sample of a conspicuous animal. The animal disease center in Wetzlar was equipped with additional material. Sets for rescuing dead wild boars are just as much a part of it as carcass collection containers.

Multilingual warning posters with instructions on how to safely dispose of leftover food were put up at rest areas on the federal autobahns.

Employees of the Hessen-Forst regional office have received relevant training.

The state government is also promoting the training of carcass search dogs.

Infected and dead wild boars must be removed from the forest as quickly as possible to prevent further infections.

In the event of an outbreak, the state government has issued a protection ordinance, on the basis of which restricted areas are set up, in which further rules apply.

For example, hunting, searching for fallen game or setting up fences can be arranged there.

Domestic pigs found to have the virus must be killed and disposed of.