Following the reported random deaths of wild boars at Lidor Soyit on the upper ridge of Sille River in Arunachal Pradesh’s East Siang district, a team of experts including forest officials and veterinarians on Thursday visited the site to ascertain the facts behind the case.

The team upon reaching the spot came across six carcasses of wild boars including those of three piglets.

Pasighat divisional forest officer (territorial) Tashi Mize said on his request a team of veterinary doctors, consisting of veterinary officers Dr Jikom Panor, Dr T Taggu and Dr Naku Taloh inspected the carcasses and the death of the wild animals is suspected to be due to the highly contagious African Swine Fever (ASF).

African swine fever is a contagious, viral disease that affects domestic pigs and wild boar, leading to high mortality.  It, however, does not affect people.

“The samples have been collected and will be sent to a laboratory at Bhopal for further investigation,” Mize said.

After the report of ASF outbreak, many carcasses of wild boars have reportedly also been found in the Upper Siang and other parts of East Siang district.

Damien Lepcha is Northeast Now Correspondent in Arunachal Pradesh. He can be reached at: [email protected]