Construction of wild boar fence between Denmark and Germany begins

Construction began on Monday of an almost 70-kilometre long wild boar fence along the Danish-German border.

The 1.5-metre high fence, which will be made of steel and extend 50 cm underground, is expected to be completed by the autumn.

There will be 20 permanent openings for waterways and Schengen border crossing points along the fence as well as smaller openings every hundred metres to allow smaller animals to pass through.

Last year the Danish government agreed on a number of initiatives aimed at preventing the spread of African swine fever to Denmark whose pork-industry exports amounted to about 30 billion Danish crowns (USD 4,596,750,000.00) in 2016.

African swine fever is harmless to humans and all animals other than wild boars and domestic pigs. If an outbreak of African swine fever were to occur, exports to non-EU countries would have to shut down.

In addition to the fence, hunting wild boar is now permitted across Denmark around the clock and there have been intensified efforts to shoot dead wild boar on state-owned and private land.