Wild boar searches continue as African swine fever results await

Seven samples were taken from dead wild boar found in Virolahti in southeastern Finland, and testing for African swine fever will be completed no earlier than Monday, Yle reports.

New searches are already under way. Volunteers are moving through the forests in a chain, examining every square metre, said Matti Nyberg, head of a regional veterinary care unit at the Finnish Food Authority.

“You have to look under bushes and use a stick to move the grass aside so you can see. It is not quick,” Nyberg said.

Veterinarians at the scene plan the searches one day at a time. Although the work began in the core area around Vaalimaa, the area that must be searched is large given the level of care required. The core area is just under 10 kilometres wide at its broadest point.

“It is a little worrying. The local searchers are being put under considerable strain. This will be quite a marathon,” Nyberg said.

Nyberg said he could not even give a rough estimate of how long the searches would take. The wild boar found on Thursday were very close to the location where the first boar infected with African swine fever were found a week earlier. They may have belonged to the same herd.

It is not yet possible to say that the disease has remained within a small area, Nyberg said. The situation may take a long time to clarify.

A total of 10 samples have now been taken from dead wild boar in Virolahti. Two of the samples taken on Thursday may have come from the same animal, but this is still being investigated.

Dead wild boar are taken from the forest to a disease-control centre established by the Finnish Food Authority at its premises at the Vaalimaa border inspection station. The station has previously been used to examine animals and meat crossing the eastern border, which is now closed.

Samples are taken from the boar at the station and sent to Helsinki for analysis. The Finnish Food Authority is primarily investigating whether African swine fever caused the animals’ deaths and when they died in the forest.

Operations are currently being carried out by Finnish personnel. Experts from other European Union countries that have dealt with the disease may come to provide advice in the near future, Nyberg said.

He added that the most valuable information is at Virolahti. “The expertise of the searchers is now extremely important and valued,” Nyberg said.