Swine fever has not yet reached any Spanish farms, and only affects wild boars at the moment, however Tension begins to boil between the ranchers That at worst, they would not be able to export, and at best, they would face restrictions in about two dozen markets.
All because of nine positive cases of swine fever discovered in wild boars, It is a large species that has grown by 270% in twenty yearsScientists and fishermen warned. These animals were, at the time, ideal vectors of this disease, which is why 400 members of the UME, Seprona and the rural agents of the Generalitat hunted them down for several days.
Objective: To prevent the plague from spreading outside the designated security zone around the municipality of Barcelona The city of Cerdanyola del Valles, where it was first detected last Friday, and most importantly, is not moving to pig farms, where discontent is growing: They have invested approximately €200,000 per farm in biosafety measures They feel that it is of little benefit to them.
“We have the most bio-secure farms in Europe, and we have real health strengths, however We paid the bill for a wild boar eating a hot dog sandwich“, laments Jaume Pernis, Head of the Pork Sector at COAG.
The economic damage is starting to scare them. Agriculture is negotiating around the clock to get as many third countries as possible that have banned pork over all of Spain to reconsider and recognize regionalism, as China or the United Kingdom have already done.
That is, they should stop buying pork only from the affected area, an area in Barcelona province, where 50 wild boars were found dead on Wednesday. Swine fever is so widespread and deadly, it’s no surprise that some companies are already taking drastic measures.
As announced by Jorge Meat Group, which decided to do so Laying off 300 temporary workers As of Thursday due to the situation caused by the outbreak of African swine fever detected in Catalonia.
The number of wild boars has increased dramatically
Because of consequences such as these, livestock farmers appear to be facing a “destructive paradox” for which they hold administrations directly responsible.
Because, COAG deplores, “while ranchers They invested between 135,000 and 240,000 euros Due to the exploitation of biosecurity measures over the past two decades, national and regional administrations have allowed the proliferation of wild boars” without “implementing any effective control plan.”
“Every rancher who continues in this sector does so because Invest what an apartment costs in Barcelona There must be a process of evidence of external threats. The question is: What has the administration done during these twenty years to protect us from these threats? “The answer is absolutely nothing,” Bernice says.
The truth is that experts have been warning for years about the dangers of wild boar overpopulation. It is estimated that this year could end with nearly two million specimens, a calculation based, in the absence of an official census, on fishing.
The existing consensus between science and industry is that what is captured represents only a third of the real population. Based on annual catch data for The Artemisan Foundation, a non-profit organization that integrates several organizations in the hunting field, including hunters’ associations, noted that the species has increased by 270% between 2003 and 2023, the last year for which hunting data is available.
‘Measures must be taken’Luis Fernando Villanueva, director of the Artemisan Foundation, points out to EL ESPAÑOL-Invertia, which calls for the “elimination of complexes” in relation to fishing activity, assuming that what has been done so far is not enough.
“They spread because we lost habitat, large-scale ranching, populations and hunters,” he adds. He adds that perhaps we should consider allowing hunting out of season to try to control their numbers.
Wildlife plan
In any case, the current situation angers livestock farmers, who now see their self-prophecy fulfilled given the danger posed by the spread of diseases carried by wild pigs. It was only a matter of time before the problem arose, and it turned out to be swine fever, the likes of which our country had not seen in three decades.
“We have put in place perimeter fences, sanitary fords, changing rooms with clean and dirty areas for employees, continuous analysis systems… And now we see how 39 Catalan farms have been detained for a year and 20 countries are closing our exports.” Due to administrative neglect of wildlife“They insist from COAG.
According to the organization, what is happening with swine fever “is not a coincidence, but rather systematic negligence.” The organization highlights that in peri-urban areas of Barcelona, densities of up to 15 wild boars per square kilometer are reached, “while the sustainable European average is 2-4 individuals.”
“This means that Catalonia multiplies the safe density by four, and Nobody did anything“Concludes the COAG, calling on the government and autonomous communities to develop a national wildlife management plan until 2030 that includes minimum hunting quotas according to the population density of each area and penalties for non-compliance with monitoring targets.
“We cannot risk nearly 9,000 million euros in exports We leave the future of 80,000 farms up in the air every time a wild boar goes down to eat in a rubbish bin anywhere in Spain. Bernice points out that we demand responsibility and institutional action.