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After the outbreak of African swine fever at two farms in Hwacheon, Gangwon-do earlier this month, a wild boar capture operation is taking place in the border area.

We are trying to reduce the number of populations to prevent the spread of the virus, but farms and governments think differently about the way they are captured.



Reporter Park Chan-beom covered the scene.



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Two wild boars trapped in a hunting net with food on a hill in Hwacheon, Gangwon-do, try to escape.



Caught wild boars are euthanized and samples are taken to check for African swine fever infection.



If a wild boar sample is positive for African swine fever, the local government and nearby farms are notified immediately.



[Nam Jae-seon/Hwacheon-gun Office Environmental Planning Manager: If positive is confirmed, we are additionally managing the breeding burial site.]



However, this year, wild boars caught with such a network or frame only account for about 3% of the total number of captured populations.



This is because it does not get caught well even if you release and attract food.



For this reason, most of them are caught with firearms, but the number of wild boars is very strong and the number is not decreasing.



Pig farms are even asking hunters across the country to open a'wide-area hunting ground' that allows the capture of wild boars in the border area.



[Chuncheon-Hwacheon Branch Manager Jo Woo-hyung/Handon Association: I hope that 100% of the control of wild boars in this area can be eliminated. This is a requirement now.]



However, the opinion of the Ministry of Environment is different.



[Jung Won-hwa/National Wild Boar Management Center Disease Response Team Leader: It is impossible to catch all (wild boars), so if you try to catch them too hard within a short time, the disease spreads further to the surroundings.]



Experts say the artificial number of wild boar populations

.

As it is not easy to control, it is important to prevent the spread of the virus by strengthening the quarantine at the farm level.



(Video coverage: Choi Ho-jun, video editing: Kim Jong-tae, CG: Choi Jin-hoe)