African swine fever reached Latvia seven years ago; the PVD then recommended reducing the number of wild boar in Latvia as much as possible to stop the spread of this insatiable virus. Hunters went into the forest as if for a job, with tears in their eyes (there were times when there were very few wild boar in hunting areas), to reduce the wild boar population that had been nurtured for so long to the absolute minimum.

Through the efforts of hunters, this was achieved – the population was reduced by almost 80%, which produced the expected results, and the disease rolled across the fields and forests of Latvia slowly and controllably. Unfortunately, as a result of reckless human activity, it sometimes spread in leaps and bounds. The reduced wild boar population is recovering; the fever has not disappeared, it still needs to be monitored and controlled to prevent domestic pigs from becoming infected.

At the same time, dark clouds are already gathering on the horizon in the form of chronic wasting disease in deer. A national surveillance programme for cervids was already developed in 2018, within the framework of which it is planned to test elk, deer and roe deer; of course, hunters are participating in the programme, who, by communicating with the PVD, supply samples from all regions of Latvia.