Nearly 100 hunters search Pyhtää for dead wild boar

The Finnish Food Authority and local volunteers have begun searching for dead wild boar in the Pyhtää area, Yle reported. No additional carcasses have been found so far.

The first field searches were carried out last week, and searchers gathered in the forest for the third time on Tuesday. The aim is to determine how widely African swine fever is present in the area.

Search teams have focused on the Hirvikoski area, including the surroundings of Munasuo, about 15 kilometres north of the Pyhtää ABC service station. The area is where a dead wild boar was found in August. Tests by the Finnish Food Authority confirmed African swine fever in the animal.

The Finnish Food Authority has trained just under 100 people for the searches in Pyhtää. They have been working in groups of about 20.

Marko Rågback, chair of the Pyhtää game management association, said people had attended the training from Kotka and Ruotsinpyhtää as well.

“People want to be prepared if African swine fever is found in their own area and searches begin there,” Rågback said.

Matti Nyberg, head of the Finnish Food Authority’s veterinary care unit, said a facility was being planned in Pyhtää where carcasses could be handled and samples taken hygienically.

“The facility will be established if more carcasses begin to be found,” Nyberg said.

36 cases confirmed in wild boar

Finland recorded its first cases of African swine fever at the end of July. The virus was detected in a PCR test by the Finnish Food Authority from dead wild boar found in Virolahti.

African swine fever has been confirmed in 36 dead wild boar in Finland. One case has been recorded in Pyhtää and the rest in Virolahti. The Finnish Food Authority confirmed the latest case in Virolahti on September 1.

African swine fever is a viral disease that is dangerous to pigs and other swine. It does not infect humans.