Nature reserve the Hoge Veluwe has temporarily closed off wild boar access gates for migrating animals in order to protect its boar population against the contagious African swine fever virus, broadcaster NOS reports.

Swine fever is particularly common in Eastern Europe but recently infected boar have been spotted as close as the Ardennes in Belgium. The animals typically suffer from a lack of appetite, conjunctivitis, red skin, bloody stools and vomiting. The disease can kill wild boar but is harmless to people.

If the disease spreads to the mega pig farms of the Netherlands the consequences could be dire, NOS said. The last wave of swine fever, in 1997, resulted in the destruction of over ten million pigs and billions’ worth of damage for the pig farmers concerned.