African swine fever in Italy A crisis of social representations of nature in animal farming and wildlife management

African Swine Fever (ASF) is an epizootic caused by a virus transmitted between animals of the swinish species and threatening the pig industry in Northern Italy. This article, based on interviews with pig farmers, boar hunters, veterinarians, wildlife managers and animal activists, argues that ASF was managed as a zoonosis because the threat for Italian agriculture was represented as important as a pandemic. Measures of biosecurity and zoning have been applied in Italy based on the model of previous zoonoses such as Covid-19. While the European Union and the Italian government frame ASF as a threat from «nature» perceived as untamed, the actors we interviewed share different attachments with wild boars and domestic pigs.