In the eastern German state of Brandenburg, the last gap in the anti-wild boar fence along the Polish border has now been closed. With this, Germany hopes to prevent the arrival of more infected wild boars with African Swine Fever.
Construction began nine months ago. Now, the final section of 15 kilometers has been installed in a German polder area.
Since the first ASF discovery in September last year, 670 km of permanent fencing has been built along the Polish border and around core areas. By comparison: in Denmark, only 70 kilometers of fencing was needed to protect the border with Germany.
Only during dry weather could the temporary electric fencing be replaced by a solid, wild boar-proof barrier. The remaining parts of the fence have already been installed, mostly along the Oder and Neisse rivers. These two rivers form a large part of the German-Polish border.
Discoveries of remnants of munitions from World War II and the waterlogged soil repeatedly made the construction of fences difficult and time-consuming. By closing the final gap now, there is a barrier stretching from the northern island of Usedom to Görlitz in the southern German state of Saxony.
So far, we have mainly been able to keep the epidemic confined to the eastern part of the country. But recently, there have been increasing positive ASF infections in Poland.