Germany extends fencing along Polish border to keep out swine fever
HAMBURG (Reuters) – Fencing along the German-Polish border is being extended in stepped-up efforts to prevent African swine fever being spread to Germany by wild boars, German authorities said on Monday.
The 62-km (38-mile) fence adds to some 240 km of barriers put up along the frontier – over half its total length – by German states earlier this year after the ASF disease was found in wild boar in Poland only 15 km from German territory.
“As ASF continues to come closer to Germany, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (state) has been intensively preparing for months to prevent the worst-case happening,” state Agriculture Minister Till Backhaus said. “The fence to protect against wild animals along the border is another part of our prevention measures.”
Poland had been consulted about the fence extension and it was agreed to build at least five metres (16.5 feet) from the actual frontier inside German territory, he said.