Picture: Warning signs to members of the public not to enter the forest around the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Photo: Vincent ter BeekThe outbreaks in the wild boar population of northern Spain have now also been found in the comarca (district) of Barcelona. In the latest update, 11 new cases were reported, all to have been found in Barcelona district. The number of infected wild boar thus rose from 216 to 227.
Barcelona is the 3rd district to find wild boar infected with ASF, after the neighbouring districts of Valles Occidental and Baix Llobregat. Data supplied by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) suggest that the emergence in Barcelona district is not so much due to a large geographical leap but more a result of winding district border lines. The animals were found in a hilly area with predominantly forests that happen to belong to the Barcelona district.
Spread out over the 3 districts, the virus has now been found in 9 municipalities; an area altogether measuring 17 km north to south and just under 8 km east to west.
Closing the natural park due to ASF
As a response to the ongoing outbreaks, the Catalan government has announced it wants to kill 12,000 wild boar to prevent the further spread of the disease. For that reason, Collserola Natural Park has been closed – a park of 8,259 ha. This is the area where the first wild boar with ASF were found. The 600 living wild boar there will have to be culled.
Spanish newspaper El País quoted the chief inspector of the Catalan government’s Rural Agents, Antoni Mur, who calculated that the forestry corps – along with several hunting groups – will have to kill about 12,000 wild boar within the 20 km radius established after the first animal carcass infected with ASF was found in November.
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