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“African swine fever is spreading all over Europe,” said Michal Haring, a biologist from Slovakia, “and the wolf is a very good ‘doctor’ for this, suppressing the disease.

A government spokesperson said that there had never been an outbreak of African Swine Fever in the UK, and it was determined to ensure that remained the case.

Mr Bradshaw said African swine fever "could spread very rapidly through our pig herd and have huge, huge implications".

African swine fever leads to very high death rates among infected pigs and currently has no effective treatment or vaccine.

"If African swine fever comes into the country, that would be as catastrophic as foot-and-mouth," he said.