Two of nine dogs trained to find dead wild boars to prevent the possible spread of African Swine Fever approach a carcass during training in May 2022. Courtesy of National Institute for Wild Animal Disease Control

By Ko Dong-hwan

To prevent the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) ― a highly-contagious, animal-to-animal virus ― Korea's central disease control agency dedicated to handling wild animals has launched a new canine unit to locate wild boars potentially infected with the deadly disease.

Nine dogs specially trained to find wild boar carcasses in the wild commenced their official duty on Monday, according to the National Institute for Wild Animal Disease Control (NIWAD). They will roam around the jurisdictions of Chungju and Goesan in North Chungcheong Province and Mungyeong in North Gyeongsang Province. The authority selected the three regions out of 23 cities and counties in the country with the highest ASF risks based on records of the past cases of the disease as well as their geographical traits of being mountainous that likely increase the risks of the disease spreading.

The dogs will be deployed up to 30 times until the end of this year.

With the help of experts, the authority started training the dogs in February of this year. By the end of their training in September, the search dogs have acquired a sense of smell 10,000 times stronger than that of humans and drastically improved stamina. They can search areas that are difficult for humans to access, such as steep cliffs or heavily wooded areas.

Handlers of search dogs under training stand over a dead boar found by the dogs during a test in June. Courtesy of National Institute for Wild Animal Disease Control

The authority in June carried out the first test, hiding in a mountain area four wild boars that tested negative for ASF and having the dogs search them. Within two hours, the dogs and their handlers found all of the boars.

The dogs took part in another drill in July. For three months, they were dispatched to Chungju and Mungyeong, where 10 ASF cases were recently reported. During that period, the dogs found two wild boar carcasses in Chungju and four in Mungyeong. All of the boars tested negative for ASF.

"It is the first time that NIWAD employed search dogs to prevent the spread of ASF," Ji Seong-in, an official from NIWAD, told The Korea Times. "There are precedents in other countries but not in Korea."

Jeong Won-hwa, the chief of the Disease Response Team at NIWAD, said Monday that the practice has already been employed in Germany and Switzerland to locate wild boar carcasses. "The carcasses of wild boars can spread the virus, so finding and eliminating them as early as possible using search dogs is critical," said Jeong.

Search dogs were trained to locate wild boar carcasses to prevent African Swine Fever from spreading to domesticated pigs. Courtesy of National Institute for Wild Animal Disease Control

To keep the dogs from being infected or spreading the contagious virus to domestic and feral swine, the canines wore protective masks while on the mission. The authority said the dogs work no more than four hours each day and are given a break every hour. After the end of each day, the animals and their handlers are carefully disinfected before leaving the field.

The disease poses a threat to commercially farmed pigs in the countryside, largely concentrated in North Gyeongsang Province. There are over 100 farms in the counties of Bonghwa, Andong and Yeacheon and about 40 farms in the city of Yeongju. Last August, the central government launched a central ASF monitoring team under the control of Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Chung Hwang-keun after two three month-old wild boars found dead in Mount Sobaek in Yeongju tested positive for ASF. Two other wild boars carcasses tested positive to the disease a month before.