Action on African Swine Fever
We have joined an urgent call to protect species from a virus sweeping across the world.
Chester Zoo conservationists have joined an urgent call to protect species in South East Asia from a virus sweeping across the world.
A paper, “Pathways to recover Asian wild pigs from African swine fever”, published recently in Nature Reviews Biodiversity journal, draws together information from more than 30 experts across zoo and conservation sectors.
It sets out the existential risk African Swine Fever (ASF) poses to multiple wild pig species. These do not have natural immunity to the disease and are experiencing population collapses when exposed to the virus.
Five species have already been uplisted on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species to reflect their increasingly precarious situation, including babirusas, a rare wild pig cared for at Chester Zoo.
A babirusa at Chester Zoo
Corinne Bailey, Chester Zoo's Regional Field Programme Senior Manager for South East Asia, contributed to the study.
She said:
“Chester Zoo has been involved in babirusa and Javan warty pig conservation breeding and in-field conservation work for over ten years. We also supported Visayan warty pig and (to a lesser extent) Mindoro warty pig conservation pre-2023, and we also care for Visayan warty pigs at the zoo.
“Throughout the last decade, we have seen major new threats emerge, ASF foremost among them. It is crucial to take action to protect these species, but meaningful progress depends on strong collaboration and a shared plan.
“We’ve come together with conservation organisations and the Indonesian government through multiple planning workshops, and we are now helping to turn those plans into action, including supporting conservation breeding, population monitoring, and community-led initiatives that reduce threats to the species.
This roadmap, and the coordination and cooperation leading into and from it, is crucial to carrying out effective and urgently needed conservation measures.”
Visayan warty pig
The study, led by Dr Matthew Linkie, Technical Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society, maps out the progression of African swine fever which spread through domestic pig populations before affecting wild species. In some areas, wild pigs declined by 90% of their original populations.
It also sets out necessary actions to protect wild pigs. These include early-warning surveillance to help detect outbreaks and reduce transmission, improved biosecurity with domestic pigs, emergency financing and expanded ex situ breeding in zoos and sanctuaries to support insurance populations of these species.
Dr Linkie said:
“I can’t think of another threat that has pushed an entire group of mammals toward extinction this quickly. Protecting these species isn’t simply about preventing extinctions, it’s about safeguarding the ecological processes that sustain forests, wildlife, and the communities that depend on them.”
Chester Zoo is helping facilitate wild pig conservation through multiple actions.
Our conservationists co-sponsored the IUCN Motion 111, recognising the urgent need to tackle the Asian pig crisis, supported Javan warty pig and Bawean warty pig 10-year action planning with a workshop in January 2026 supported a babirusa planning workshop in August this year and have joined JaSpeR, DICE (at the University of Kent) and Cikananga to carry out a significant camera trapping study for Javan warty pig in west Java.
Find out more about our wild pig protection projects here and here.