Norway may build a fence along its border with Sweden as part of a package of measures designed to eradicate the wild boar populationllowing last year's outbreak of African swine fever in Sweden.
Under the plan, presented by the country's food safety authority and environmental agency, up to 2,000 wild boars in Norway would be slaughtered on the grounds that the pigs pose a "great danger" to commercial pig farming.
In addition to monitoring the population and its effects, the agencies also propose increasing the effectiveness of wild boar hunting, allowing the sale of meat from shot boars and requiring producers to install "pig-proof fences" to protect outdoor pigs, the UK-based The Guardian newspaper reported.
Other measures could include building a fence on the Norwegian side of the border to prevent wild boars from crossing into Sweden, where there are estimated to be 300,000. Denmark has successfully reduced its wild boar population after building a fence along its border with Germany.
NO EFFECT ON HUMANS
African swine fever, a serious viral disease that affects wild boars and pigs but not humans, was found in dead wild boars near Fagersta, 145 kilometers northwest of Stockholm, in August and September.
But Sweden said the risk of swine fever in Sweden was now "zero" after the last wild boar to test positive died in September, adding that there was no active circulation of the disease in the country.
The disease has been present in Europe since 2007.
WORKING TO REDUCE THE NUMBER
Norwegian Agriculture and Food Minister Geir Pollestad said earlier this month that authorities are working on "new and strengthened measures" to reduce wild boar numbers as much as possible.
"If we contract swine plague in Norway, it will have major consequences for those involved in pig production, but it will also impose major restrictions on hunting, forest management and participating in outdoor activities in areas affected by the infection," Pollestad said.
