Spain Swine Fever Outbreak Grows With 10 New Wild Boar Deaths

Spain reported 10 new cases of wild boar deaths from African swine fever, expanding an outbreak that has put the major pork exporter into high alert.

The dead animals, which bring the total count to 26 since the outbreak emerged in November, were found in the vicinity of the first cases in the municipality of Cerdanyola del Valles, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of downtown Barcelona, the Spanish government said in a statement. An additional 208 carcasses of dead boars have been analyzed and tested negative.

Spain is deploying soldiers, police dogs and drones on the outskirts of Barcelona to track down wild swine and prevent the outbreak from spreading to commercial pig farms. The country is the European Union’s largest exporter of pork products and the second-largest globally. Mexico and Japan are among nations that have suspended pork purchases from Spain due to the outbreak.

Concerns persist the disease could potentially spread to neighboring farms. In the nearby region of Aragon, authorities are offering as much as 鈧�30 euros ($35) per wild boar to encourage people to hunt them. Swine fever can’t infect humans, but is a major threat to pig farmers.

The dead animals were found as a result of fieldwork carried out by rural agents in collaboration with the country’s Military Emergency Unit, the Civil Guard and Catalonia’s regional police force.

African swine fever was eradicated from Spain’s pig farms in the 1960s. Since then, artisanal production of pork products is almost non-existent and the sector has prioritized biosecurity. But in forests, wild boar are thriving due to a combination of winters made milder by climate change, a lack of natural predators and human migration away from rural areas. The animals forage in trash cans of houses near forests, and sometimes even venture deep into the city.