Successful control of this animal disease, which is associated with high economic losses, can only be achieved through close interdisciplinary cooperation between many of the authorities involved. For this reason, the first two days were spent practising the interdisciplinary cooperation of the numerous authorities involved in the Ludwigsburg district office. To this end, the interdisciplinary group of experts for combating African swine fever at the Ludwigsburg District Office, which was established two years ago, was convened. In addition, an informal meeting of the administrative staff of the district took place. In addition to all municipal and rural districts in Baden-Württemberg, the regional councils, the Ministry of Rural Areas, Food and Consumer Protection, the Ministry of the Interior, Digitization and Municipalities and representatives of the Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector also took part in this staff exercise.
On the third day of the exercise, a large, practical specialist service exercise to combat African swine fever took place in the district of Ludwigsburg in Besigheim-Ottmarsheim and in Hardtwald under the leadership of the Ludwigsburg District Office. The aim of the exercise was to test the interdisciplinary cooperation and communication of all those involved in carrying out tasks under the most realistic conditions possible in the event of the discovery of a wild boar that had died of ASF in the district. The entire process was simulated, from the discovery of the animal to sampling, diagnostics, recovery of the affected animal carcass, decontamination of people, vehicles and dogs and informing the public. In addition to the district administration office, the responsible hunter and gamekeeper, fire department, THW and the TCRH (Training-Center Retten und Helfen) were involved in this large-scale exercise.
Two search dogs specially trained for cadaver searches and dog handlers from the TCRH as well as two drones from the fire department were used to search for previously hidden wild boar skins in the Hardtwald forest and in the Forsthof/Steinheim area. The coordinates of the locations were forwarded to the local control center set up at the Besigheim-Ottmarsheim fire station, from where the operation was managed. In the forest, the part of the carcass that had been laid out was recovered safely from an epidemiological point of view so that these animals, which had fictitiously died of ASF, could no longer be a source of infection for other wild boars. People, dogs and vehicles that came into contact with the carcasses were then decontaminated to prevent the spread of the disease via people and objects. For this purpose, decontamination facilities for vehicles, people and dogs were set up and operated centrally by the fire department and THW on the grounds of the Ottmarsheim road maintenance depot.
The major three-day animal disease exercise demonstrated the importance of close cooperation between all responsible parties, as animal disease control consists not only of technical, but also organizational and communicative elements.
The Heilbronn municipal veterinary office and the disaster control authority of the Heilbronn district, the animal disease control task force of the state of Baden-Württemberg, the ASF competence team of the state of Baden-Württemberg and representatives of the state command of the German armed forces were present as observers of the practical exercise. A total of 120 people took part in this large-scale exercise.
Background information:
African swine fever (ASF) is a notifiable viral disease that only affects domestic and wild pigs and cannot be transmitted to humans or other domestic animals. ASF has been spreading westwards from Eastern Europe for several years. Infected pigs fall seriously ill and usually die quickly. It is currently not possible to vaccinate pigs against African swine fever. The disease is transmitted from animal to animal as well as via carelessly disposed of food. For this reason, food and food waste should never be fed to domestic or wild pigs or thrown away in the wild. At rest areas, it is imperative to use the wild boar-proof waste garbage cans with lids. All pig farmers are called upon to check the biosecurity measures in their pigsties and to safely prevent the possibility of their domestic pigs or the feed store of their pig farm coming into contact with wild boars. The occurrence of ASF in Baden-Württemberg, although harmless to human health, would have an enormous economic impact, particularly on agriculture, the meat industry, forestry and hunting.
