Alessandro DeMartini, head of the Project Unit for the eradication of African swine fever and director general of the Presidency of the Sardinia Region, intervened during the Macomer Hunting Fair to personally thank the hunting world. The Sardinian hunters have been fundamental with the contribution offered, the collection of wild boar samples and other activities that have facilitated the monitoring of the disease affecting wild animals.
The island hunters themselves were thanked for demonstrating a great civic sense and responsibility towards institutions and the interest of all citizens. The collection concerns the diaphragm samples for the necessary analyzes on trichinella. In non-infected areas, moreover, a blood sample is required on at least 59 animals culled per single macro-area: in the infected areas, on the contrary, the samples are taken for all the heads, without forgetting a sample of the spleen.
According to the data released so far, there are over 9 thousand square kilometers of infected areas. The collaboration with the hunting companies was also enhanced by theExperimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Sardinia, which has the task of drawing up the official reports. In the 2016-2017 hunting season the samples were seropositive 237 of 15673 collectively collected.