African swine fever, a highly contagious and deadly disease of pigs, has been detected in domestic and wild pigs in Central and Southern Europe and Russia. No infected pigs have been found yet in Finland. However, wild boars can travel great distances and could introduce the disease to Finland. There is a risk that these boars could transmit the disease to domestic pigs or wild boars living in captivity in Finland. Due to this, there must be absolutely no contact between domestic and wild pigs, which is why keeping pigs outdoors is forbidden without the necessary preventative measures in place year round. This requirement also applies to miniature and micro pigs and other pigs kept as pets.
Migratory birds arriving in Finland in the spring can carry the easily transmitted avian influenza. If these birds come into contact with free-range poultry, there is a risk that the virus is transmitted to the poultry, causing an outbreak. Because of this, poultry cannot be kept outdoors during the migrating season of birds. The ban is in force from the beginning of March until the end of May. During this time, poultry must either be kept completely indoors or in an outdoor run fenced with small hole size chicken wire and a roof made of solid or small hole size wire mesh. This requirement must be observed even if you only have one chicken.