A public alert is to be issued warning residents and visitors to the Forest of Dean not to attempt to feed the Forest's population of wild boar as fears heighten over the spread of the deadly African Swine Fever virus (ASF).

The move, planned by Forestry England and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), comes amid growing fears that ASF could breach the UK's borders from Europe and get into the wild boar population - with a consequent need to "wipe out" the Forest's boar population and the potential triggering of a nationwide cull of farmed pigs.

With an estimated head count of just over 650 wild boar at the last record, the Forest of Dean boasts the largest population in the UK.

A number of wild boar are shot each year by Forestry Commission rangers and blood samples from any animals found dead are sent to the Pirbright Institute, where samples are tested for ASF. 

Katie Jarvis, of the National Pig Association, said no positive recordings had been made to date. She added: "APHA encourages the reporting of live wild boar through a dedicated hotline, and of dead boar through the APHA hotline."

Guidance documents are also being made available to local authorities, with the aim being to engage with farmers and the general public in the Forest, she added.

"It is more important now than ever that wild boar are not fed food products which could contain ASF."

The attempt to raise public awareness of the risk of the virus spreading into the UK - which would trigger an incident across the UK's pig industry akin to the foot and mouth epidemic - comes as APHA warns of heightening risks. An update on ASF's status in Continental Europe, APHA says the disease was identified in domestic pigs in 13 European countries between May 2023 and January 2024.

With some 2,920 reports of the virus were noted over the period, Bosnia and Herzegovina saw more than 1,500 cases, Serbia reported 482, Croatia 293 and North Macedonia 15.

Against this spread, the UK's National Pig Association (NPA) has warned proposed cuts from Defra to reduce the budget for tackling illegal meat imports coming through Dover, as widely reported in January, could trigger catastrophic implications for UK food biosecurity.

Since September 2022, Border Force records show more than 57 tonnes of illegal meat was seized at the crossing. Current rules allow meat for personal consumption below 2kg to be brought in - and the NPA is pressuring the government to see this limit reduced.

Beverley Edmondson, Port Health Manager at Dover District Council, said large amounts of illegally imported meat seized by Dover could be just the 'tip of the iceberg', with ASF-contaminated pork being a key concern.

Pig World magazine has reported that it is estimated that 90% of the illicit trade in uncertified pork enters the UK at Dover. In just one weekend before Christmas, Border Force staff seized 5.5 tonnes of illegal meat at the port.

As a notifiable disease, the Pirbright Institute, which monitors disease risks and takes samples of any boar found dead in the Forest of Dean, said: "ASF is a severe, often fatal disease in pigs. Symptoms include lack of energy, lack of appetite, internal bleeding, bleeding under the skin of ears and flanks, and death. Sometimes there are no clinical signs before death occurs."

As such, a spokesman for Forestry England said feeding wild boar in the Forest poses a serious risk. While ASF does not affect humans, it is fatal to both domestic and wild pigs and the pathogen is present in infected meat.

They said: "The most likely way ASF could infect pigs or wild boar in the UK is if they eat pork or wild boar meat products from infected animals. This could happen if a member of the public brought produce back from affected countries and allowed it to be eaten by pigs or wild boar on their return to the UK."

But Ed Drewitt, a wildlife specialist and author who runs safari party trips into the Forest which offer the chance for visitors to get closer to the boar, warned against reflex reaction to any campaign and said that the boar remain vital to the Forest's ecology and tourism.

Mr Drewitt said: "We have to remember the integral role boar play in the Forest's ecology, the way that they aerate the soil and create wallows which turn into small ponds, as well as their contribution to the magic of the Forest."

ASF is essentially a domestic pig issue, he said: "The chances of someone with an infected ham sandwich feeding a scrap to a boar is very low, while the boar population is insulated from direct contact with farmed pigs. If a boar gets onto farmland it is shot and butchered, so this is really a domestic pig issue."

He added: "The key is this: wild boar evolved in woodland over millions of years and were absent from the Forest for a tiny dot in that timeline. Woodland elsewhere is gasping for wild boar for the balance they bring."