Monitoring and Surveillance Systems

Decomposition of Wild Boar Carcasses

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Abstract

Wild boar infected with African swine fever (ASF) usually die from infection, so their bodies become exposed to scavengers, including healthy conspecifics. In a previous study, wild boar were observed sniffing, poking, and chewing on bare bones from dead conspecifics even after skeletonization was complete (Probst et al. 2017). Since ASF-virus is extremely stable in the environment, this behaviour might be sufficient for ASF transmission, if for example the bone marrow still contains infectious ASF virus. Against this background, when ASF is introduced into a wild boar population, it is crucial to estimate as precisely as possible the time of death of the first carcasses found in the field to estimate (i) the time point of disease introduction and (ii) the size of the already affected area. However, little is known about the decomposition process in wild boar.

How to Cite:

Probst, C., Conraths, F. J. & Gethmann, J. M., (2019) “Decomposition of Wild Boar Carcasses”, SafePork 13(1), 122. doi: https://doi.org//safepork.11217