On July 25 Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Rumen Porozhanov stopped group hunting of wild boar on the territory of Bulgaria, which was previously aimed as a preventive measure against the spread of the dangerous infectious disease African swine fever. This order repeals changes made to the Hunting and Game Conservation Act on July 11, which allowed group hunting of wild boar to begin at the height of summer. Changes envisaged that hunting of a wild boar would begin on July 25 instead of October 1, with hunting days being - Saturday, Sunday and public holidays, as well as the additional day of Wednesday, as the aim was shooting down some 120,000 wild boars. The measure was motivated as a way to stop the spread of the dangerous pig disease. Minister Porozhanov's decision to overturn it was influenced by reactions of the National Hunting and Fisheries Association - the Union of Hunters and Fishermen in Bulgaria and numerous nature preservation organizations. They warned that it would bring enormous damage not just to nature:

“From our point of view, this was an incorrect decision, because in this period of the year group hunting would create a lot of prerequisites for accidents with people,” Vassil Vassilev, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Union of Hunters and Fishermen in Bulgaria, says. “It's not just about hunters, but about everyone in the forest areas like herb gatherers, tourists, and so on. On the other hand, this would have been detrimental to the populations of other game species such as the deer and the red deer. I am pleased that Minister Porozhanov listened to our arguments and with the order he issued did what was necessary to protect public interest.”

Until now, there have been no outbreaks of African swine fever in Bulgaria, but in Europe it has been spreading for nearly four years. Among the countries affected are Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. In Bulgaria’s northern neighbor, dozens of new outbreaks have been reported in recent weeks, including in the area of ​​Tulcea and Constanta, some 60 kilometers away from the land border with Bulgaria. To stop the spread of disease penetration, a wire fence is currently being built, but according to the hunters it is very lightweight and would hardly stop the boars.

“They are extremely strong animals and when under stress they pass through the fence, especially if it is not built strong enough,” Vassilev says.

No swine fever vaccine exists, and if samples of infected animals are taken, according to official instructions, they must be sent to the only laboratory in the country, which is located in Sofia. Thus the question arises whether the laboratory will have the capacity to perform the necessary analyzes in time and how it would be able to store the vast amount of meat associated with intensive hunting. Hunters therefore call for better coordination both in sampling and returning the results in order to limit spread the infection:

“This disease spreads mainly through humans, and the possibility of it being transported at long distances from wild animals is considerably less likely. For this reason, we need to take measures across the country, because it may come from southern Bulgaria while we are waiting for the disease from Romania. The mortality rate associated with the disease and the damages for the economy it could cause are extremely high,” Vassil Vassilev says.

It is important to know that in case of registering the infection in this country "moving animals and people near the outbreaks in a radius of 10 km is highly unacceptable", and that means the limiting of hunting.

English: Alexander Markov