An Adult Wild Boar Enters the Main Urban Area of Huadian, Jilin, and Is Shot Dead by Police After Failed Anesthesia

According to a November 24 announcement from the Huadian City Public Security Bureau in Jilin Province, at around 9:00 on November 21, patrol police from the Huadian City Public Security Bureau suddenly spotted an adult wild boar, visually estimated to weigh over 100 kilograms, running wildly on the main road of the city during their patrol. While alerting pedestrians and vehicles to evade, the patrol police called for additional police forces to arrive and handle the situation.
The announcement stated that to prevent the wild boar from harming surrounding vehicles and pedestrians while running, the police drove a patrol car to chase it onto a nearby small road with less pedestrian and vehicular traffic. The frightened and uncontrolled wild boar then ran into a nearby residential area. Faced with this sudden situation, to prevent the wild boar from causing greater danger, the police promptly instructed the residential area’s security guards to close the electronic retractable gate, creating a relatively enclosed space in the backyard. Subsequently, the special duty squad arrived with equipment.
The Huadian City Public Security Bureau explained that after forestry bureau staff attempted to control the wild boar with anesthesia but failed to achieve the desired effect, the special duty squad police, ensuring absolute safety at the scene, decisively took precise shots and successfully killed the wild boar. After on-site verification, no casualties or property damage occurred during the process of handling the uncontrolled wild boar. The killed wild boar was disposed of in a harmless manner in coordination with the forestry department.
Public information shows that regarding the issue of reducing wild boar-related incidents, the forestry bureau of Panshi City, which borders Huadian, responded in April 2024 that in June 2023, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration newly released the “List of Terrestrial Wild Animals That Are Beneficial or Have Important Economic and Scientific Research Value Under National Protection,” from which wild boars were removed. However, wild boars are still protected by the “Wildlife Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China” as terrestrial wild animals and cannot be hunted arbitrarily. The entire territory of Jilin Province is a hunting-prohibited area and hunting-prohibited period, and according to criminal law provisions, hunting in a hunting-prohibited area or during a hunting-prohibited period, or using prohibited tools or methods, constitutes a crime of illegal hunting if the circumstances are serious. Therefore, even though wild boars have been removed from the “Three Beneficial” list, hunting wild boars in a hunting-prohibited area, if the circumstances are serious, still constitutes a crime of illegal hunting.
Earlier, in 2022, the Jilin Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau also stated regarding related issues that Jilin Province attaches great importance to wildlife protection. Since 1996, it has implemented a province-wide hunting ban for 26 consecutive years, leading the nation. Years of protection have led to the expanding activity range and healthy recovery and growth of species such as the Northeastern tiger, leopard, and wild boar within the province. The National Forestry and Grassland Administration guides that the suitable density for hunting and regulating wild boar populations in northern provinces should be above 1 per square kilometer. According to the data from the province’s second wildlife resource survey completed in 2021, the current wild boar population density in the province is around 0.33 per square kilometer, which is within the ecological environment’s carrying capacity. In response to the damage caused by wild boars to the production and life of residents, especially to crop production, in mountainous areas of local regions, Jilin Province issued the “Compensation Measures for Personal and Property Damage Caused by Key Protected Terrestrial Wild Animals in Jilin Province” in 2006 and implemented a compensation system throughout the province. Every year, the provincial finance provides 10 million yuan in compensation funds, with over 90% of the funds used for cases of personal injury, death, and crop damage caused by wild boars, effectively alleviating human-wildlife conflicts.
“Jilin Province is the largest distribution area of the Northeastern tiger in China. As an important species in the food chain, wild boars are one of the main food sources for the Northeastern tiger. Protecting wild boar resources is of great significance for the protection of the Northeastern tiger, and hunting wild boars can easily have adverse effects on the wild Northeastern tiger population,” the Jilin Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau stated at the time. In summary, Jilin Province is currently not suitable for hunting wild boars. Hunting may lead to the termination of the province-wide hunting ban, damaging the awareness and behavior of protecting wildlife cultivated by the whole society over the years, and further affecting the protection achievements of endangered flagship species such as the Northeastern tiger and leopard.