Wild boar population control needs more than recreational hunting

Christian Gortázar, David Relimpio, Nicolás Urbani, Jorge R. López-Olvera

This perspective addresses the challenges of wild boar (Sus scrofa) population control in two different scenarios: reactive management to control disease epidemics and proactive management of wild boar populations at larger geographic scales. Intense but silent wild boar culling can significantly contribute to local outbreak control. Larger wild boar free buffer zones might work in front-like disease expansion settings or to protect pig farming hotspots. However, long-term proactive management based only on hunting, predation and diseases cannot compensate the population growth favoured by increasing forest surface and irrigated crops and disappearing competition by livestock. Addressing these drivers would imply profound agricultural and environmental policy changes which often are beyond the reach of wildlife managers and animal health authorities.