The culling of a large number of wild boars in Poland to help prevent the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) and protect the country’s pork industry has led to protests across several cities, Agence France Presse reported.
Some 168,000 wild boar have been killed since April 2018, and a mass cull is planned for later this month, according to the report. Environmentalists and scientists are concerned that the cull could upset the ecosystem and even spread ASF.
Polish scientists sent a letter to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki calling for an immediate halt to the culling and a switch to alternatives such as disinfectant mats on pork farms, the report said.
Poland is a leading pork supplier to the European Union, having exported $1.1 billion worth of meat in 2017, the news agency said. ASF was detected in about 3,200 wild boar and affected pigs in over a hundred locations across Poland between February 2014 and last summer, the report said.
Source : Meatingplace