More dead wild boars found in Virolahti as searches continue

Several more dead wild boars have been found in Virolahti, Yle reports. The Finnish Food Authority and local hunters began searching for carcasses on Thursday in the infection zone around Vaalimaa.

Three dead wild boar piglets were found in the area last week. Tests showed that the animals had African swine fever, a fatal disease affecting pigs and wild boars. There is no vaccine or treatment, and infected animals die quickly.

Matti Nyberg, head of the Finnish Food Authority’s veterinary care unit, said the animals found on Thursday were young. He estimated that the piglets could belong to the same litter as those found earlier because they were discovered very close to the previous carcasses.

The searches are intended to determine how widely African swine fever has spread. The dead animals are being taken from the forest to a disease control centre established by the Finnish Food Authority at the Vaalimaa border inspection station. Samples will be collected there and sent to Helsinki for analysis.

The authority is primarily investigating whether African swine fever caused the deaths and when the animals died. Nyberg did not confirm how many dead wild boars had been found during Thursday’s searches, which were still ongoing. He said, however, that several more animals had been discovered.