Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, Terras said that the results received from Spain (link to PDF) regarding the pigs at Nurme Farm were clear.

"I can confirm the fact that the reference laboratory results are positive," he said, adding that, with the final and internationally confirmed evidence in hand, the farm's 4,500 pigs will be culled.

The culling will be handled by the Agricultural and Food Board (PTA).

PTA director general Raimo Heinam confirmed that culling at Nurme Farm will begin as soon as possible to prevent further spread of the disease.

He added that he hopes the agreement reached at the peaceful protest on Saturday — to postpone the culling pending the reference lab results from Spain — will be honored, allowing the PTA to smoothly commence its work.

On July 30, the PTA announced that the presence of African swine fever (ASF) at the Saimre Agro Group-owned Nurme Farm in Viljandi County had been laboratory-confirmed by the National Center for Laboratory Research and Risk Assessment (LABRIS) as of the previous day.

As a result, the farm's 4,500 pigs were slated for culling.

The culling was scheduled for Saturday, August 9. However, protesters began gathering outside the farm that Friday night, demanding the culling be suspended. By Saturday morning, the crowd had nearly doubled from 50–60 people to around a hundred.

According to ERR correspondent Olev Kenk, reporting live from the scene, protesters met with the PTA on Saturday morning, prompting the agency to hold a meeting.

Afterward, the PTA announced they would postpone the culling, pending additional test results from a reference lab in Spain.

On July 25, ASF was detected in a population of 4,000 pigs at Petlema Farm in Rapla County.

To date this year, more than 17,000 domestic pigs have been declared infected across five outbreak sites Estonia.

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