August 15, 2018

Denmark constructs a border fence to keep out African swine flu
 

Denmark has decided to build a 68-kilometre fence that will run along its border with Germany, mainly to conserve its giant pork industry against German wild boars that could carry African swine flu (ASF). 

The decision gathered a wide range of sentiments that included critics saying that the €11 million (US$10 million) fence is a waste of money, environmentalists worrying over its impacts on the ecosystem.

Standing at 1.5 metres tall and half-metre deep, the fence will stretch through the entire Danish-German border, spanning from the Wadden Sea in the west to the Flensburg Fjord in the east.

The erection is set to complete by end of 2019 and was approved in parliament in June with the support of the local government, Social Democrats and right-wing populist Danish People's Party. The final approval was given by the Environment Ministry on Monday after consultations with the public.

5,000 pig farms export 28 million pigs annually, accounting for 50% of Danish agricultural exports and 5% of all exports, the Danish Agriculture and Food Council said. Hence, a swine flu outbreak in Denmark would halt all non-EU pork exports.

While the ASF epidemic does not affect humans or other animal species, it has been detected within EU member states, such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. However, ASF has not been identified in Germany and led to questions as to why the fence is even being built.

From an ecological aspect, the fence will interrupt migration of wild animals and birds, some of which are protected by Danish and EU legislation.

"We know from experiences around the world that physical barriers such as a fence impact animal migration," Thor Hjarsen, senior biologist at World Wildlife Foundation in Denmark said.

Additionally, others are questioning the effectiveness of the fence against its ultimate purpose. "The problem with the fence is that there is no documentation that it works," Hans Kristensen, a hunter, wildlife author and an expert on wild boar migration who lives along the border, pointed out.

"On the other hand, there are plenty of evidence that it won't work," Kristensen added.

Critics like Kristensen and Hjarsen said that there is a bigger possibility of the swine flu spreading from trucks transporting infect swine or spreading contaminated food as compared to wild boars crossing the border.

Instead, the fence may have more of a symbolic effect to show the powerful pig farming industry that the pro-agriculture government is doing something to appease the right-wingers in Denmark, who are keen on hard borders and keeping migrants out.
 

Source: Taiwan News