State media: Wild boar overpopulation “goes unchecked”, prevention and control must keep pace with the times
For Some Time, Reports of Wild Boars Causing Injuries and Damage Have Been Continuous Across Multiple Locations
Wild boars have been frequently making their presence known, indirectly indicating the remarkable effectiveness of China’s ecological protection efforts. Over the years, China has continuously increased its emphasis on ecological environment and wildlife protection, resulting in a significant increase in the population of many wildlife species, particularly the highly reproductive wild boar population, which has surged. According to reports, wild boars are now widely distributed in 28 provinces across China, with a total population reaching 2 million.
However, wild boars frequently descend from the mountains to cause havoc, destroying farmland, invading residential homes, and injuring people. The former “three-have protected animals” (animals with important ecological, scientific, and social values) have now become one of the most harmful wildlife species. A reply document issued by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration at the beginning of the year stated that wild boars have caused harm in as many as 26 provinces, adversely affecting the production and life of local residents.
To prevent and control the widespread “rampage” of wild boars, it is first necessary to dispel the outdated belief that “wild boars cannot be hunted”. Currently, the wild boar species is not threatened with extinction, and its population growth rate far exceeds the reproduction rate of its natural predators such as dholes, wolves, tigers, and leopards. The “List of Terrestrial Wild Animals of Important Ecological, Scientific, and Social Values” adjusted and published by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration in 2023 removed wild boars from the directory, meaning they are no longer protected as national wildlife species. This is a measure that keeps pace with the times and seeks truth from facts. However, due to the previous status of wild boars as “three-have protected animals”, the notion that “wild boars cannot be hunted” is deeply ingrained in some people’s minds, and there is an urgent need to increase publicity to dispel this belief.
To prevent and control the widespread “rampage” of wild boars, it is also necessary to break through the outdated framework that “only professionals can hunt wild boars”. In many rural areas, the infestation of wild boars has become the biggest concern for farmers. Well-cultivated crops are often destroyed overnight by wild boars, rendering a farmer’s year-long hard work in vain. Some villages lose tens of thousands of pounds of fruits, vegetables, and grains each year, with some farmers suffering losses of hundreds of millions of yuan. Faced with the rampant pig problem, affected farmers often can only “sigh at the sight of pigs”. Although the hunting procedures for wild boars have been further simplified, for most ordinary people, seeing wild boars damaging crops can only be “driven away”, and the best way to deal with wild boars encountered on the street is still to “dodge” and wait for professionals to handle it. Some places have also explored comprehensive prevention and control measures such as establishing professional hunting teams and constructing control and barrier facilities to alleviate the problem of wild boar-inflicted harm, but they still struggle to cope with the rapidly growing wild boar population. Some professionals have called for encouraging the public to participate in hunting wild boars while ensuring safety, in addition to professional hunting and harmless disposal, as the key to solving the problem.
By learning from others’ experiences, we can find solutions to our own problems. To control the wild boar population at a normal and reasonable level, some European and American countries have increased the number of hunts by formulating hunting plans, using boxes or pens to set traps for capture, and searching for and sterilizing wild boars to slow down their population growth. Taking Europe as an example, after World War II, Europe began to strengthen ecological and environmental protection, and various wildlife that had declined due to the industrial revolution gradually returned. By the beginning of this century, there were over 10,000 wild boars in the Berlin area of Germany, and incidents of wild boars disturbing and injuring people occurred frequently. The Berlin municipal authorities allowed the hunting of wild boars, sometimes hunting over 1,700 in a year, and wild boar meat is also a popular dish in Germany. Another example is that the Japanese Ministry of the Environment recently announced that due to the surge in the number of bears, the number of people injured by bears in Japan last year reached the highest level in over a decade, and the Japanese government has decided to list bears as designated managed birds and animals, which means that citizens can receive government subsidies for hunting bears. This approach, which keeps pace with the times, is also worth learning from.
In summary, to prevent and control the widespread “rampage” of wild boars, we need to adopt a more people-oriented perspective and consider the situation from the standpoint of the public. As early as 2017, the former State Forestry Administration issued an “Urgent Notice on Effectively Regulating the Wild Boar Population and Preventing and Controlling Wild Boar Hazards”, requiring various regions to organize the regulation of the wild boar population. However, due to constraints such as insufficient funding, inefficient hunting, and unprofessional teams, the related work did not proceed smoothly. It is advisable to listen more to the voices of those affected by the pig problem at the frontline, timely adjust laws and regulations that do not match the current situation, relax restrictions on hunting wild boars by the public, and explore allowing the consumption of hunted wild boars that have passed inspection, in order to avoid the uncontrolled growth of the wild boar population and restore ecological balance.
