The large-scale hunt got underway on Monday, with snipers from intervention and special units using helicopters, night vision equipment and motion trackers to scour forests in the northeast of the country.

The hunt, which will last until December 12, will cost 14 million crowns (€552,000) and will see the units working in shifts around the clock with an extra 50 police guarding the area to prevent locals from being shot by mistake.

The move comes following an outbreak of ASF in wild boars.

Minister of Agriculture Marek Výborný said: “We are trying to maximize all measures to prevent the further spread of African swine fever and to get rid of the disease in the Czech Republic.

“We succeeded in this way once before, in 2017, in the Zlín Region, where we managed to completely eradicate the outbreak.”

He added that the only way to eliminate swine fever was to shoot individual boars and that the government had intervened, as local hunters had not been successful, despite the state raising the bounty for shooting a boar to €394.

African Swine Fever threat

The disease is not contagious to humans, but wild boars act as a major reservoir and vector for ASF. If the virus spreads unchecked within wild boar populations, it can easily spread to domestic pigs, particularly in areas where wild and domestic pigs have overlapping habitats.

This is a significant concern for pig farmers, as ASF outbreaks can devastate the pork industry, leading to substantial economic losses.

Wild boars are difficult to manage due to their mobility and breeding habits. If the disease spreads extensively among wild populations, controlling the virus becomes increasingly challenging.