Poland to build 770-mile fence as final frontier in boar war
THE Polish government is to build one of the world’s longest fences, stretching almost the entire length of the country’s eastern border, to protect it from a marauding and disease-carrying migrant population of wild boar.
Stretching for 770 miles and following Poland’s border with Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, the galvanised steel fence is aimed at keeping out wild boar carrying African swine fever.
At an estimated cost of £50million, construction is due to start at the end of the year, and, if all goes to plan, it should block the way of boars from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathian Mountains by the end of 2020.
It will stand two metres high and be buried into the ground to stop industrious boar simply tunnelling under it.
The plan comes amid calls for culls in France and Germany where fears have been raised that swelling boar populations are also carrying diseases and destroying farming pastures.
Although not dangerous to humans, African swine fever can devastate pig populations owing to a mortality rate that can hit 100 per cent. It therefore poses a serious risk to Poland’s lucrative and expanding pork industry. The disease is endemic in the Russian Federation, with no vaccine against it.
“The fence must be built so that we are safe,” said Robert Telus, an MP from the governing Law and Justice Party and a member of the parliamentary rural development and agriculture committee. “We have to make sure wild boars do not enter the country, and that we keep our pig breeders safe.”
Some experts, however, question the wisdom of building the fence.
“I doubt its effectiveness,” said Dr Tomasz Podgorski, from the Mammal Research Institute at the Polish Academy of Sciences. “The Belarusians have tried something similar and studies show that boars have no trouble getting through it.”
Boars can demonstrate remarkable tenacity and talent at getting through or round obstacles, especially if they stand in the way of a good meal.
Poland’s eastern border also crosses rivers and lakes, possibly providing boars with natural gaps in the fence.
Animal experts have also questioned the need for a fence given that there have already been incidents of swine fever in Poland. Since 2014 there have been a reported 108 cases of the disease in domestic pigs and 1,415 cases in boars.
In January, a German minister backed calls from the country’s farming association to cull 70 per cent of the Germany’s wild boars to prevent an outbreak of the fever.
In France, a rocketing local boar population in some areas has led to the destruction of pastures used for dairy cows. The situation became so bad that in January farmers called for culls after production of Munster cheese was said to be in peril.