The Office for Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Inspection can announce further progress in the fight against African swine fever (ASF) in our region: Restricted zone II in the districts of Spree-Neiße and Oberspreewald-Lausitz will be reduced in size, while restricted zone I in the districts of Märkisch-Oderland, Oder-Spree, Dahme-Spreewald and in the independent city of Frankfurt (Oder) will be largely lifted and transferred to free territory.

The last time an ASF-positive wild boar was detected in the now lifted parts of the restricted zones was on January 27, 2023. Since then, there has not been an ASF case in this area for more than twelve months. Against this backdrop, the Ministry of Consumer Protection applied to the European Commission at the end of October to lift further parts of the restricted zones. The European Commission has now approved the application. The Standing Veterinary Committee of the European Commission, in which all member states are represented, has also given its approval.

This means that restricted zone II in the state of Brandenburg now only exists in the districts of Uckermark, Spree-Neisse and Oberspreewald-Lausitz. In the districts of Barnim, Märkisch-Oderland, Oder-Spree, Dahme-Spreewald and the independent city of Frankfurt (Oder), which were previously affected by ASF, African swine fever was successfully eradicated with the lifting of Restricted Zone I, with the exception of the protection corridor directly on the Oder and Neisse rivers, the restriction zones were converted back into ASF-free areas and all drastic protective measures were lifted.

The disease situation in the now free areas following the lifting of Restricted Zone I will continue to be monitored closely. To this end, risk-oriented game searches are being carried out in the areas of the former restricted zone I and all wild boar found dead and shot are still being tested for the ASF virus. Hunters can immediately dispose of healthy wild boar without waiting for the test results. This examination is only used for the early detection of a new entry of the disease.

In the protection corridor, the measures to reduce the wild boar population, the examination of every shot wild boar and every fallen and accidental wild boar are continuously continued.

Despite this positive development, new cases of African swine fever in wild boar must be expected at any time.

In particular, damaged, stolen or unclosed gates in the remaining ASF protection fences can be the cause of this. Every new ASF finding in wild boar in the now lifted area would lead to the re-establishment of restriction zones and the restart of control measures.

For this reason, the protective fences in the protection corridor will continue to be kept functional and all hunters, farmers and citizens are urged to close the gates again after passing through the remaining ASF protective fences. The successes in the fight against the animal disease must not be jeopardized.

In the rest of the Oder-Spree district, the fences are already being dismantled.

The general animal disease order will be published on the Oder-Spree district website and in the daily press in the coming week.