Skip to content

Researchers Recommend More Intensive Wild Boar Culling for Barcelona ASFV Variant

Wild boar standing in a muddy wallow in natural habitat
Conservation · Management

Researchers examining the African swine fever outbreak in Barcelona argue that established control protocols for wild boar (Sus scrofa) need to be adapted. African swine fever virus (ASFV) is the virus that causes the disease in domestic pigs and wild boar. The Barcelona outbreak presents an unusually difficult combination: a dense peri-urban population and a new genotype II ASFV variant that appears to cause slower mortality. Their main proposed adaptation is more intensive population reduction. The paper was published online in One Health on 29 August 2026.

The outbreak was detected in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona in November 2025. European ASF control strategies for wild boar have largely been developed around highly virulent virus strains in lower-density populations, where rapid disease mortality itself can contribute substantially to reducing the number of infected and susceptible animals.

Slower mortality may change the outbreak dynamics

The Barcelona situation may work differently. The peri-urban landscape supports comparatively high wild-boar density, while the new variant appears to be associated with slower mortality. If infected animals survive for longer, they may also remain in the transmission system for longer. The authors therefore argue that relying on disease mortality to reduce the population would be less effective than in outbreaks caused by more rapidly lethal strains.

The same tools, but with greater emphasis on population reduction

The three main intervention groups remain the same: fencing to limit movement, systematic searching for and safe removal of carcasses, and reduction of the living wild-boar population. What should change, according to the authors, is the intensity, relative importance and timing of these measures in response to the local outbreak conditions.

More intensive culling is the central change they recommend. The aim is to compensate for both the high population density and the apparently slower disease-related mortality. The authors do not present this as a field test showing that a particular culling level has already succeeded; it is a proposed adaptation of existing ASF eradication protocols to the Barcelona outbreak.

Carrying out that reduction is also more difficult in a peri-urban landscape than in remote forest. The Metropolitan Area of Barcelona is heavily used by people, and control measures must account simultaneously for public safety, animal-health objectives, wildlife management and environmental constraints. The paper therefore frames the outbreak as a One Health management problem in which virus biology and urban wildlife ecology have to be addressed together.

Sources and image credit

  1. Adapting current protocols is necessary to eradicate the novel ASFV variant in the peri-urban wild boar population of Barcelona, SpainOpen-access One Health paper available online 29 August 2026. The authors argue that Barcelona’s dense peri-urban wild-boar population and apparently slower mortality associated with the new genotype II ASFV variant require adapting established eradication protocols, with more intensive population reduction as the main proposed change.

Image: Wild boar in a muddy wallow in Grünwalder Forst, Bavaria, Germany, photographed on 22 May 2007. Photo: Richard Bartz. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Representative image; not an animal from the Barcelona ASF outbreak. · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

Management

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Wild Boar Sus scrofa Explore species

Independent research and conservation news archive

Did you find this information useful?

Wildlife Vagabond is independently built and maintained. Voluntary support helps cover source verification, hosting and continued work on research and conservation news.

Support Wildlife Vagabond

The news archive will remain freely available.