No case of African swine fever has yet appeared in Saxony-Anhalt. However, the country is preparing intensively for emergencies. It also relies on animal support.
Magdeburg (dpa/sa) – Lili, the first cadaver-sniffing dog, was presented in Saxony-Anhalt at the beginning of May – now there are five other animal sleuths against African swine fever. The training team from the state police’s service dog handler school had instructed the dogs and their handlers in the past few weeks, the Ministry of the Interior announced in Magdeburg on Wednesday. The course, in which different dog breeds were trained, ended a few days ago. According to this, German Longhaired Pointers and Lagotto Romagnolo, among others, can now search for and track down wild boar carcasses and report them by barking loudly.
In the spring, the two-year-old Belgian shepherd Lili was the first carcass-sniffing dog to be trained in the fight against African swine fever. She is at home with a forest inspector from the Merseburg forest district. The now newly trained dogs also live and work together with their two-legged partners. In several cases, these are employees of hunting authorities. But there is also an employee of a building and civil engineering office, a data protection officer and a manager of a vaccination center and a veterinary office employee.
No case of African swine fever (ASF) has been reported in Saxony-Anhalt. However, the country is preparing with various measures. So far it has been said that it is probably only a matter of time before an outbreak occurs. When an ASF case occurs, the key is to find carcasses quickly in the affected areas. The reason: they are highly infectious. The sniffer dogs are designed to help where people and technology, such as drones, have reached their limits. African swine fever is a highly contagious virus for animals. The pigs die.
The service dog training school in Pretzsch has been training dogs for the state police for decades. You can track down tracks, but also explosives or banknotes. Dogs that can find drugs or mobile phones are also trained for the judiciary. Most recently, the spectrum was expanded to include the cadaver test dogs.
