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Regulating wild boar populations is “somebody else's problem”! - Human dimension in wild boar management
Supplementary resource (1)
... Wild boar, whose presence and risk have been highly politicised, are now considered something of a battlefield where laws and regulations on management are continuously changing (Vajas et al. 2023;von Essen 2020). Therefore, critical questions arise regarding the appearance of management and whose responsibility it is to solve the wild boar 'problem' (Keuling, Strauß, and Siebert 2016). ...
... A fundamental category of wildlife management is 'native-ness' and wild boar management in Europe is framed by their historic 'native range' throughout the continent (Keuling, Strauß, and Siebert 2016). European countries with wild boar today have commonly followed one of two historical trajectories: continuous wild boar presence, or extirpation and recolonization. ...
... Similarly, while never fully extirpated, a very low population post-WWII in Germany rapidly proliferated in the latter half of the twentieth century, notably during the 1980s, and was referred to as the 'Wildschwein Plage' (wild boar plague) (Fleischman 2020). These recent trends mirror population developments across Europe (Keuling, Strauß, and Siebert 2016). Importantly, we found that native range is not merely conceived as a horizontal spread, but might also be altitudinal. ...
Wildlife management across Europe is increasingly characterised by a 'war on wild boar'. In response to epidemiological and economic threats to pig production and agriculture, state agencies, policymakers and hunting organizations have altered their management as they attempt to contain wild boar. Through a cross-section overview of eight European countries with differentiated strategies-the Czech Republic, and Sweden-we analyze five critical components of contemporary wild boar management: categorizing, responsibilizing, calculating, controlling, and sanitizing. We consider three critical triggers that change how wild boar and, by extension, a range of other 'wild' species are managed in relation to the aforementioned categories: (over)abundance and population growth, biosecurity crises, and technological innovation. While these triggers, on one hand, might streamline transborder management policies, we show how wild boar also uproot longstanding wildlife management cultures by transforming hunting traditions, landowner-hunter relations and meat handling practices.
... In recent years, European areas have been affected by a strong growth in the wild boar population, with an increased impact of the species on human activities and biodiversity; therefore, it is essential to develop effective strategies to manage these conflicts. Hunting is often believed to act effectively in limiting and managing wild boar populations [42]. However, hunting rarely produces significant results, as it often targets classes of individuals which give a scarce contribution to the yearly recruitment, harvest rates are too low or because hunters are reluctant to accept the reduction in numbers of a game species [10,11,43,44]. ...
... Heavy rain is known to affect both the behaviour of ungulates, which commonly respond by seeking cover to save energy and reduce heat loss [47,48]. Hunters are also expected to be discouraged to hunt in adverse conditions (e.g., during heavy rain), which can also affect wild boar detectability [42,49]. ...
... The management of game species is a complex process, driven by the interactions between the dynamics of natural processes and stakeholders' decision making [13,42]. Both these components cannot be omitted when planning management actions in order to control population growth. ...
Wild boar Sus scrofa populations have increased dramatically in recent decades throughout Europe. While hunting is widely used in management activities; it rarely has an important role in regulating and reducing wild boar populations. Therefore, increasing the efficiency of hunting is a compelling issue. In this study, we used a three-year dataset (2016–2018) on a wild boar population living in Campania (southern Italy) as a case study to explore how the hunting effort made in collective drive hunts affected the hunting rate, estimated as the number of individuals culled per day. We fitted a Linear Mixed Model, in which we included the number of wild boars culled per drive hunt as the dependent variable, and the number of beaters, shooters and dogs and the month during which hunting occurred as the predictors. A mean of 1.81 wild boars were culled per drive hunt. The number of culled animals per hunt increased with the increasing number of hunting dogs and with the progression of the hunting season (i.e., from October to December), whereas the number of beaters and shooters had no effect. Overall, we observed a low hunting rate. We suggest that adjusting the hunting calendar and reorganising wild boar collective hunts, e.g., through an appropriate management of the number and training of hunting dogs, are essential to increase the hunting rate. Our results can be useful for wildlife managers to enhance hunting contribution in counteracting the negative impact of wild boar.
... On the other hand, for some people wild boar represents a ''public enemy'' to be killed (e.g., farmers), but for hunters they represent the emblematic species that promotes hunting activities. (Mounet 2012;Keuling et al. 2016). As a result, these populations have undergone favorable management measures to ''keep'' the interest around hunting (Maillard et al. 2010). ...
... This is the central question we address in our manuscript. Because both leisure and labor dimensions underlie modern hunting, and wild boar hunting manifests this clearly, optimal efficiency in terms of maximum harvest is not necessarily sought by all hunters (Keuling et al. 2016;von Essen and Tickle 2020). At the same time, they are under much pressure from other stakeholders to keep numbers down (Mounet 2012;Keuling et al. 2016). ...
... Because both leisure and labor dimensions underlie modern hunting, and wild boar hunting manifests this clearly, optimal efficiency in terms of maximum harvest is not necessarily sought by all hunters (Keuling et al. 2016;von Essen and Tickle 2020). At the same time, they are under much pressure from other stakeholders to keep numbers down (Mounet 2012;Keuling et al. 2016). Today's hunters are also changing, in terms of their desires, profiles, practices and affinity to local communities (Ueda et al. 2010;Keuling et al. 2016. ...
Modern hunting is an ambivalent practice, torn between leisure and labor. Nowhere are these conflicting dimensions better manifested than for wild boar-a simultaneous game and pest species in many countries. Here, we consider the sociological, political and cultural phenomenon of wild boar hunting from a change perspective, starting at its historical roots to future implications concerning the changing demographics, drivers, needs and practices of a modernizing hunting community. Using the case context of France, we present an approach to deconstructing each component of wild boar hunting firstly, and subsequently the external forces that change the nature of hunting. The objective of this manuscript is to discuss of the wild boar optimal harvesting to be applied in changing social and ecological environment. Findings show that the challenges facing wild boar management will likely intensify in the future, especially under the spotlight of a controversial public debate.
... Convencer a los cazadores de la necesidad de controlar la sobreabundancia es de suma importancia porque la gestión de la fauna silvestre con fines de caza puede verse comprometida de varias maneras. A veces, aumentando la capacidad de carga del ecosistema, ocultando el daño o simplemente posponiéndolo (Keuling et al. 2016, Valente et al. 2020. En otros casos, interfiriendo con el control de la población a través de traslocaciones (Tabak et al. 2017), estableciendo objetivos de animales cazados demasiado bajos (Keuling et al. 2016), o evitando cazar hembras (Milner et al. 2006). ...
... A veces, aumentando la capacidad de carga del ecosistema, ocultando el daño o simplemente posponiéndolo (Keuling et al. 2016, Valente et al. 2020. En otros casos, interfiriendo con el control de la población a través de traslocaciones (Tabak et al. 2017), estableciendo objetivos de animales cazados demasiado bajos (Keuling et al. 2016), o evitando cazar hembras (Milner et al. 2006). Los argumentos para convencer a los cazadores de la necesidad de contribuir más al control de la población incluyen la mejora de la fertilidad y la calidad de los animales (peso corporal, estado de salud, trofeo) que se espera cuando las densidades de poblaciones con recursos limitados se reducen lo suficiente (Putman et al. 2019). ...
... Otro argumento es el efecto positivo en la percepción pública de la actividad cinegética logrado a través de las contribuciones al equilibrio social y ecosistémico que brinda el control de la caza sobreabundante (Quirós-Fernández et al. 2017). Además, notificar la opción alternativa de utilizar cazadores profesionales o el trampeo para controlar las especies cinegéticas sobreabundantes, también puede contribuir a desencadenar la respuesta necesaria (Keuling et al. 2016). En el lado opuesto, las opiniones contra la caza (el "síndrome Bambi") están aumentando en ámbitos urbanos (Gortázar et al. 2016). ...
... This is a problem in the current situation of the decrease in the number of hunters in many European countries (Massei et al. 2015). Indeed, it is difficult to drive hunters to hunt more than they want for pest control purposes: this need is perceived as "somebody else's problem" (Keuling et al. 2016). Additionally, the management of wildlife for hunting purposes can interfere in several ways. ...
... Sometimes, increasing the carrying capacity of the ecosystem through feeding and thereby hiding the damage, or just postponing it (Valente et al. 2020). In other cases, interfering with population control through translocations (Tabak et al. 2017), by setting too low harvest targets (Keuling et al. 2016;Quirós-Fernández et al. 2017), or by avoiding harvesting females (Milner et al. 2006). Arguments to convince hunters of the need to contribute more to population control include the improvement in fertility and individual animal quality (body weight, health status, trophy) expected where population densities of resource-limited populations are sufficiently reduced (Putman et al. 2019), but also the positive effects on the public perception of hunting achieved through the contributions to society and ecosystem balance provided by controlling overabundant game (Quirós-Fernández et al. 2017). ...
... The positive perception of the general public may be reenforced if game harvest can be integrated into society as a sustainable source of quality and low-impact meat production (Macháčková et al. 2021). Additionally, announcing the alternative option of deploying professional shooters or trapping to control overabundant game may also contribute to trigger the needed response (Keuling et al. 2016). On the opposite side, anti-hunting opinions (the "Bambi syndrome") are growing in urban societies (Gortázar et al. 2016). ...
Many game species are prey species and evolved to cope with significant mortality by natural predators. In the absence of predation or hunting, these game populations will be limited by resource depletion or disease. Both situations may fall within the overabundance definition. We review drivers of game species overabundance, considering if recreational hunting can effectively manage this challenge. We show examples of overabundance management in European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), deer (red deer Cervus elaphus and white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus), and wild boar (Sus scrofa) or its relative, the feral pig. We also consider available alternatives for managing overabundant wildlife such as habitat management, predator restoration, pathogen introductions, professional culling, immunocontraception, and poisoning. Most alternatives can be included in integrated wildlife management strategies but are unsuitable alone for large-scale overabundance control. We conclude that, when available, it is advisable to use recreational hunting as one tool in the box. Recreational hunting will perform best as a means of population control within integrated wildlife management strategies, combining hunting with habitat management. To maintain the contribution of recreational hunting for managing overabundance, hunters need to survey demographics of game populations to adequately plan harvest quotas. They should continue developing their commitment with biodiversity conservation, monitoring programs, and animal/public health. Agencies could set acceptable targets and facilitate hunting, educating the public about recreational hunting as socio-ecological service. Hunting and conservation should go hand in hand, with special caution regarding native endangered species that locally become pests needing sustainable management including adaptive hunting.
... In order to regulate the hunting of wild boar, it is essential to research the animal's biology (especially behavioural and ecological flexibility; [68]), hunting methods, and the attitudes and availabilities of hunters. One of the most significant and disturbing factors affecting the success of wildlife management is the management itself: wildlife managers, and especially the hunters, have a big impact on the performance of population regulation [1,2,12,27,[69][70][71]. For example, is the number of hunters linked to the hunting bags of wild boar [2]? ...
... We aimed to know: How do hunters hunt? Are hunters willing (compare [27]) and able to regulate a population sufficiently? What other management tools can be used and accepted by hunters? ...
... In general, the rate of hunters answering more specific questions on how hunting was conducted (compare Figure 6) was much lower than the proportion of answers on more general hunting questions (see, e.g., Figure 2) (compare also [27]). This may mainly base on the occurrence of wild boar in Lower Saxony: hunters without resident wild boar occurrences cannot answer some of these specific questions generally [27]. ...
Simple Summary
High wild boar population densities lead to human–wildlife conflicts. For proper wildlife management, knowledge of wildlife biology as well as human attitudes is needed. We conducted inquiries on hunting methods and on hunters’ attitudes in the German Federal State of Lower Saxony to better understand hunting strategies. Single hunt, especially at bait, is still the most widely used method for hunting wild boar. The proportion of drive hunts within the hunting bag is increasing. The proportions of hunting methods vary regionally due to wild boar densities, geographical conditions and hunters’ practices. Private hunting is important for wild boar management, although it is just insufficient. Besides promoting more efficient hunting methods and motivating hunters, in the future, additionally, administrative wildlife managers could be established as coordinators of wild boar management, and as such, could manage hunting, the incorporation of regional conditions and investigating hunters’ attitudes and abilities.
Abstract
High wild boar population densities lead to demands for a population reduction to avoid crop damages or epidemic diseases. Along with biological studies, a better understanding of the human influence on wildlife and on wildlife management is important. We conducted inquiries on hunting methods and on hunters’ attitudes in the Federal State of Lower Saxony, Germany, to better understand hunting strategies and the influence on increasing wild boar population, as well as to underpin game management concepts. Single hunt, especially at bait, is still the most widely used method for hunting wild boar. The proportion of drive hunts within the hunting bag is increasing. The proportions of hunting methods vary regionally due to wild boar densities, geographical features (vegetation, terrain, etc.) and hunters’ practices. Hunters increased the proportion of conjoint hunts on wild boar. Baiting remains an important hunting method in wild boar management and the proportion of drive hunts should be fostered. Private hunting is important for wild boar management, although it is just insufficient. Additionally, administrative wildlife managers are recommended for the near future as coordinators of wild boar management, and as such, could manage hunting, the incorporation of regional conditions and investigating hunters’ attitudes and abilities.
... Por ejemplo, si bien los cazadores siguen siendo los agentes más efectivos del manejo de la población real en muchas regiones, se ha cuestionado la capacidad de la caza recreativa para controlar determinadas especies particularmente adaptables, como el jabalí. En Europa, la contribución de la caza recreativa al control de la población de jabalíes se considera generalmente significativa, aunque no suficiente (Keuling et al., 2016;Quirós-Fernández et al., 2017). ...
... Convencer a los cazadores de la necesidad de controlar la sobreabundancia es de suma importancia. De lo contrario, la gestión cinegética incorrecta puede interferir aumentando la capacidad de carga del ecosistema, ocultando el daño, o simplemente posponiéndolo (Keuling et al., 2016;Valente et al., 2020). ...
... En otros casos, puede interferir a través de traslados o simplemente estableciendo cupos demasiado bajos (Keuling et al., 2016), o evitando cazar hembras (Milner et al., 2006). Los argumentos para convencer a los cazadores de la necesidad de contribuir más al control de la población incluyen: ...
This book, aimed at professionals in the sector such as veterinarians, ranchers or wildlife managers, is the second volume of a manual that lists and details the different sources of risk of tuberculosis for wildlife. In each section, the risk is described, its epidemiological role is detailed and control measures are proposed, providing a complete bibliographic review of each source of risk, highlighting the knowledge gaps existing to date.
Este libro, dirigido a profesionales del sector como veterinarios, ganaderos o gestores de fauna, es el segundo volumen de un manual que enumera y detalla las diferentes fuentes de riesgo de tuberculosis para la fauna silvestre. En cada apartado, se describe el riesgo, se detalla su papel epidemiológico y se proponen medidas de control, aportando una revisión bibliográfica completa de cada fuente de riesgo, poniendo de relevancia los vacíos de conocimiento existentes hasta la fecha.
... In general, several parameters that influence the effectiveness of driven hunts, including the number of hunters and their dogs present during the hunt; previous hunting success; or weather conditions such as temperature, wind, rain, or snow cover, have been studied by several authors, e.g., [23,38]. Among these factors, the local wild boar abundance is the main factor affecting hunting success, which is also influenced by the size, layout, and structure of the hunting grounds, which can multiply encounters with wild boars [17,39,40]. Furthermore, the number of hunters has been shown to correlate with hunting success positively [17,19]. ...
... Heavy snow cover can also be a physical barrier, limiting wild boar movement and increasing the risk of direct encounters with hunting dogs. Wild boars remain hidden during rainy conditions, while hunters may be less proactive, affecting shooting accuracy [3,40]. This can increase the likelihood of severe injuries rather than successful harvests. ...
Hunting dogs are exposed to the risk of injury in driven hunts, an often-used method for managing growing wild boar numbers. This study investigated the impact of increased hunting pressure—both across the hunting season and within individual hunting events—on the risk of wild boar attacks on hunting dogs, i.e., the length of the hunting season (2.68 ± 0.76 months, mean ± standard deviation), the number of driven hunts per season (3.99 ± 0.43), the intervals between hunts (17.85 ± 4.83 days), the number of wild boars harvested per season (14.46 ± 13.10), and the number of participants (23.8 ± 10.69) and dogs (4.56 ± 2.66) involved per hunt. The data were collected via a retrospective questionnaire survey. The information-theoretic approach (IT-AIC) and GLMM were employed to estimate the factors’ effects on the number of wild boar attacks on dogs reported in 40 hunting grounds in five consecutive hunting seasons (2.60 ± 5.07 attacks per hunting season in a hunting ground). The number of attacks only increased with the length of the hunting season. The best model did not include other factors, such as shorter intervals between hunts, a higher number of driven hunts, wild boars harvested, or participants. The respondents reported 150 injuries by wild boars during 797 driven hunts. Most injuries were mild (73.8%), with fewer severe (18.8%) and fatal (7.4%) cases. Further investigation into wild boar and hunting dog interactions is necessary for constructing strategies to improve hunting practices and reduce dog injury risks.
... The importance of the human dimension of wildlife has been gaining relevance in socioecological studies, with an increase in research about the relationship between people, land, and wildlife species (Kansky et al. 2016;Keuling et al. 2016;Conejero et al. 2019;Martínez-Jauregui et al. 2020;Valente et al. 2020a). People's perceptions may shape the potential for socioecological systems' equilibrium and the extent to which the implementation of management measures can be carried out with the support of local populations/interest groups Valente et al. 2020a). ...
... Contrary to some other studies (Hearn et al. 2014;Storie and Bell 2017), farmers and hunters generally agreed on the management goal of population reduction (Keuling et al. 2016). However, the process can be more intricate: while there can be a consensus on the need for a species' population reduction, farmers and hunters may diverge in their approaches to reach this objective and in their perception of the population numbers that such reduction should aim at . ...
The human dimension of wildlife is increasingly addressed in socioecological studies on the growth of some wildlife populations in Europe, which frequently leads to conflicts, particularly when wild populations inhabit or reach humanized landscapes. In Europe, ungulates have been increasing in number and distribution, especially the wild boar (Sus scrofa). This has been a cause of concern, given the increase in traffic accidents, diseases, and crop damage caused by the wild boar. These impacts could shape people’s perception regarding this species, but sociocultural factors can influence a favorable perception. This study examines people’s perception of the wild boar in Portugal, collecting responses from 1532 individuals, including farmers, hunters, and the general public. Three indexes were created to analyze perception: interest in wildlife, perception of benefits, and perception of damage associated with wild boar. Respondents had, in general, a positive perception of the wild boar. Farmers were more aware of wild boar increasing trends and had a higher damage perception and a lower perception of species benefits. This was expected, considering the increasing damages caused by wild boar to crops. Hunters showed an intermediate perception between the farmers and the general public that mainly highlighted the benefits. This study is valuable in providing data to orientate awareness-raising actions, as well as management strategies to tackle wild boar densities, such as hunting coupled with other methods. It is of the utmost importance the application of compensatory schemes, through the government, as an end-of-line measure. Future research should focus on adaptive management involving multidisciplinary teams.
... Wild boars (Sus scrofa) are widely distributed across several European regions. They continue to spread due to agricultural changes and their high reproduction rates [1,2]. This species is considered invasive and harmful to both agriculture and the environment [3,4]. ...
... The presence of wild boars is particularly high in the Molise Region of Southern Italy due to agricultural changes and strong reforestation habitat [14][15][16]. Moreover, the increase in areas off-limits to hunting activity, linked to the rise of protected areas, has led to an increase in wild boar abundance [8] and human-wildlife conflicts in anthropized areas [1,8]. However, Geographic Information System (GIS) software can be used to plan management strategies that reduce the species' impact on the territory and promote a balance between the environment and human activities [17][18][19]. ...
Wildlife, particularly wild ungulates, has experienced a significant demographic increase throughout Europe, especially in the last 30 years. The objective of this study was to create a preliminary impact map of wild boars (Sus scrofa) in the Molise region of the Italian Southern Apennines, and their correlation with road accidents. A GIS software was used to process a map, and the impact of wild boars was categorized based on land use. An analysis of the environmental characteristics of the neighboring raster was conducted, considering the presence of roads, particularly with respect to accident events. The geo-referenced damages were superimposed onto the impact risk map. The geo-referenced damages caused by wild boars indicate that they are primarily concentrated in areas where road accidents have occurred and where there is a high risk of impact. These maps serve as a valuable starting point for managing wild boars in the region by optimizing strategies from technical and economic perspectives. This process must include population control by evaluating the Annual Useful Increase index (IUA), based on processes related to birth-immigration and mortality-emigration of the species.
... For this, we also need a proper monitoring of populations to know the needed harvest rate (Keuling et al. 2013;ENETWILD consortium et al. 2018;Gortázar and Fernandez-de-Simon 2022). More repeats may not be automatically better, and it could also be advisable to improve the hunting skills and methods (Keuling et al. 2016(Keuling et al. , 2021. Additionally, repeats increase disturbances to wild boar and to other species. ...
... For instance, with frosty sunny weather, hunters may be in a happy mood, leading to better shooting, but also wild boar will flush more easily. In contrast, with rainy weather, hunters may be in a less proactive mood, recognizing wild boar later, shooting worse, and wild boar may stay inside the shelter (Keuling et al. 2016(Keuling et al. , 2021. ...
Overabundant populations of wild boar (Sus scrofa) are frequent where anthropogenic food is easily available and where hunting is limited. Improving recreational hunting efficacy may contribute to manage these populations. However, we do not know the factors modulating hunting efficacy in a hunting day (i.e., proportion of individuals culled from a population). Additionally, we need to explore which factors drive hunting efficacy in shooting opportunities (i.e., proportion of hunted individuals from a wild boar group in individual shooting opportunities). Here, we analyze the factors explaining wild boar hunting efficacy at the scale of driven hunt and shooting opportunity. Hunting efficacy was surveyed in 92 driven hunts (2017–2018 to 2020–2021 hunting seasons) and in 145 shooting opportunities in Sierra de Gredos (central Spain). We found that hunting efficacy at the scale of the driven hunt was mainly modulated by the number of hunting posts. Indeed, maximum levels of 82 posts showed a fourfold hunting efficacy (59%) compared to minimum levels reaching six hunting posts (16%). At the scale of the shooting opportunity, hunting efficacy was mainly driven by wild boar group size, being negatively related to hunting efficacy: the higher the number of individuals in the group, the lower the shooting efficacy (13-fold; 41% for an individual, 3% for individuals belonging to groups > 7 individuals). Given the need of maintaining native wild boar populations at densities compatible with biodiversity conservation, rural economy, and animal and public health, efforts towards facilitating more hunters per event would improve wild boar hunting efficacy.
... However, wild boars are also associated with biodiversity losses and economic damage, making them be considered as a pest within their native range, or as invasive in the non-native range 20,21 . Increasing wild boar populations therefore pose a major management challenge 22,23 . ...
... Wild boars are increasingly present in the outskirts of European cities such as within the borders of Berlin. While these animals are usually seen through a lens of the damage they can cause 23,61 , empirical studies on biodiversity impacts in urban regions are missing thus far. This is the first multi-taxon study of how wild boar activity relates to biodiversity in dry grassland, an ecosystem type of conservation concern in Berlin and beyond 34,35,38 . ...
Wild boar is increasingly establishing populations in the outskirts of European cities, with the largest German urban population occurring in Berlin. Related soil disturbance in grasslands is common and often considered as damage to biodiversity. However, it is unknown how animal and plant species in urban grasslands respond to wild boar activity - an important limitation for conservation management. We sampled plants, grasshoppers and sand lizards in 22 dry grasslands and measured wild boar activity. We show that plant diversity decreased with rooting intensity, but not species richness, endangered or specialist species. Relationships with animals were mostly positive. Grasshopper diversity, total richness and richness of endangered and specialist species were positively related to rooting, as was sand lizard abundance. These relationships contrast to mostly negative effects in the wild boar’s non-native range. This first multi-taxa study in a large city suggests that soil disturbance by wild boars is not necessarily a threat to biodiversity. An implication for conservation is to consider the context-dependence of biodiversity responses to wild boar activity. For dry grasslands, disturbed patches should be accepted in management plans rather than re-vegetated by seeding.
... Honig et al. 2020;Skoták et al. 2021) road traffic accidents, and the spread of African swine fever, the goal of management is to stabilise and reduce their populations (Massei et al. 2011). However, reduction efforts have so far not been very successful, mainly due to the high reproduction rate of current wild boar populations (Frauendorf et al. 2016) and limited culling by hunters (Massei et al. 2015;Keuling et al. 2016Keuling et al. , 2018. ...
... In Czechia, intensive reduction of wild boar populations has been going on for several decades, yet hunters instinctively focus on eliminating all additions to the populations (sparing adults). However, such culling cannot adequately prevent consistent population growth in the long term (also Keuling et al. 2016). In recent years, large fluctuations in hunting yields have also become more pronounced (Touzot et al. 2020)-this is associated e.g. with acorn crops in autumn when the efficiency of hunting in baiting areas decreases, or on the contrary, it increases when the government provides massive financial rewards for each culled boar. ...
Floodplain forests provide a highly suitable environment for wild boar, especially because they offer a sufficient quantity of good-quality food across the seasons. Combined with year-round additional feeding and treatment, wild boar enjoy ideal living conditions in floodplain forests, which should have a positive effect on reproduction and, in turn, an increase in population. We expected the high carrying capacity of the floodplain forest environment to be reflected in young boar showing greater body weight and have a higher layer of subcutaneous fat, young females being in their first heat earlier, and females of all ages having more young. This was verified on a sample of wild boar females collected in Czechia’s largest floodplain forest, which extends above the confluence of the Morava and Dyje Rivers and which is fenced off and used for breeding hoofed ruminant mammals. In addition to determining body characteristics and examining reproductive tracts, food quality was also analysed based on an analysis of stomach contents. Body and reproductive characteristics were compared with available data for the South Moravia. It has been confirmed that, in the floodplain forest, wild boar have a sufficient quantity of good-quality food all year round, yet they reach a smaller body size across all age classes. Piglets ovulated more eggs, while in contrast older females ovulated fewer. That is also why they gave birth to fewer piglets per litter. Wild boar in the floodplain forest gave birth later, with a birthing peak in May–June. This delay can be explained by the adaptation of wild boar populations in floodplain forests to the annual floods that come in March. We estimate that wild boar are able to respond flexibly not only to the food conditions of their environment, but also to the risk of possible mortality and other significant stressors, and to adapt their reproductive strategy accordingly.
... In and around Berlin, Bettina Stoetzer examines the intersection of urban wild boar and African swine fever (ASF) and, with the concept of 'ruderal ecologies' , encourages the study of urban nature as 'unintended ecologies of human architecture' (2018, 298; see also 2020). In Germany, research has also been conducted in relation to wild boar hunting (Gieser 2020;Keuling, Strauß and Siebert 2016) and ASF (see Chapter 3). While York Kotulski and Andreas König (2008) conducted a quantitative study on attitudes towards wild boar in Berlin, to the best of our knowledge no ethnographic studies have examined how the presence of wild boar impacts residents and urban environments in a German context. ...
Fences and Biosecurity explores the role of fencing as a mechanism of control, exclusion, and power in the name of biosecurity. While biosecurity is broadly understood as the set of measures taken to prevent the introduction and spread of harmful organisms – thereby protecting humans, animals, and plants – this volume critically examines how fencing has become a key tool in these efforts. Through an interdisciplinary lens, the chapters reveal the ways in which fences, both physical and symbolic, shape social, political, and ecological landscapes.
This volume brings together scholars from different regions to investigate the ways in which biosecurity fencing is deployed across different contexts in Europe and North America. As fencing practices increase in scope and intensity, it becomes imperative to assess their effects – both intended and unintended – on human and non-human life. More than passive structures, fences actively participate in the governance of space, reinforcing borders, and regulating mobility. They embody biosecurity concerns, turning abstract discourses into tangible barriers that impact everyday life. Yet, fences are not merely practical tools; they also serve as powerful symbols of fear, control, and exclusion. While they may provide protection, they also create division, evoking a range of intellectual and emotional reactions and raising questions about their long-term implications.
Fences and Biosecurity highlights how fencing, as a manifestation of biosecurity anxieties, is not only about managing biological threats but also about organizing the world into hierarchies of value. By delineating spatial boundaries, fences impose distinctions between what is considered safe and what is framed as dangerous or invasive. This separation of differently valued species and biological matter is not neutral; rather, it is deeply entangled with political imaginaries, economic interests, and global trade dynamics. Fences facilitate the circulation of capital while simultaneously restricting the movement of certain species and populations, making them instruments of governance rather than mere physical barriers. While fences physically separate spaces, they also reshape cultural understandings of risk, security, and belonging. By shifting the focus from biosecurity as an abstract policy concern to fencing as a material and discursive practice, this volume reveals the ways in which security measures are enacted on the ground.
... In and around Berlin, Bettina Stoetzer examines the intersection of urban wild boar and African swine fever (ASF) and, with the concept of 'ruderal ecologies' , encourages the study of urban nature as 'unintended ecologies of human architecture' (2018,298; see also 2020). In Germany, research has also been conducted in relation to wild boar hunting (Gieser 2020;Keuling, Strauß and Siebert 2016) and ASF (see Chapter 3). While York Kotulski and Andreas König (2008) conducted a quantitative study on attitudes towards wild boar in Berlin, to the best of our knowledge no ethnographic studies have examined how the presence of wild boar impacts residents and urban environments in a German context. ...
Fences and Biosecurity explores the role of fencing as a mechanism of control, exclusion, and power in the name of biosecurity. While biosecurity is broadly understood as the set of measures taken to prevent the introduction and spread of harmful organisms – thereby protecting humans, animals, and plants – this volume critically examines how fencing has become a key tool in these efforts. Through an interdisciplinary lens, the chapters reveal the ways in which fences, both physical and symbolic, shape social, political, and ecological landscapes.
This volume brings together scholars from different regions to investigate the ways in which biosecurity fencing is deployed across different contexts in Europe and North America. As fencing practices increase in scope and intensity, it becomes imperative to assess their effects – both intended and unintended – on human and non-human life. More than passive structures, fences actively participate in the governance of space, reinforcing borders, and regulating mobility. They embody biosecurity concerns, turning abstract discourses into tangible barriers that impact everyday life. Yet, fences are not merely practical tools; they also serve as powerful symbols of fear, control, and exclusion. While they may provide protection, they also create division, evoking a range of intellectual and emotional reactions and raising questions about their long-term implications.
Fences and Biosecurity highlights how fencing, as a manifestation of biosecurity anxieties, is not only about managing biological threats but also about organizing the world into hierarchies of value. By delineating spatial boundaries, fences impose distinctions between what is considered safe and what is framed as dangerous or invasive. This separation of differently valued species and biological matter is not neutral; rather, it is deeply entangled with political imaginaries, economic interests, and global trade dynamics. Fences facilitate the circulation of capital while simultaneously restricting the movement of certain species and populations, making them instruments of governance rather than mere physical barriers. While fences physically separate spaces, they also reshape cultural understandings of risk, security, and belonging. By shifting the focus from biosecurity as an abstract policy concern to fencing as a material and discursive practice, this volume reveals the ways in which security measures are enacted on the ground.
Annika Pohl Harrisson is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern Denmark. Michael Eilenberg is an associate professor of anthropology at Aarhus University.
... While nature management is currently the main external justification of killing, prevalent hunting logics and norms require hunters to act against biopolitical prescriptions of what it means to do this nature management effectively and efficiently. This tension may explain why in some contexts hunters refrain from managing wild boar and refer to it as "somebody else's problem" (Keuling et al., 2016) or as "dirty work" (Dahles, 1993;Emond et al., 2021). With increasing numbers of boar-and increasing numbers of culling-hunter-managers have started to complain they are like slaughterhouse workers or a shooting servant ("schietknecht") in unpaid service of the government (von Hebel, 2014). ...
The Veluwe is considered as one of the most important nature areas in the Netherlands. Its public appeal in part derives from the presence of large ungulates, such as red deer and wild boar. These populations of red deer and wild boar are caught up in management practices and spaces of control that have emerged as part of the history of the Veluwe as an elite hunting reserve, including material practices and imaginations of nature and culture. Historically, these deer and boars were considered to be hunting animals, but now they are killed under the name of wildlife management. Yet, the hunting histories of this space persist through certain landscapes, particular animal species and breeds, discourses and symbolic meanings, resulting in the production of particular biopolitical subjects and objects. In this article, we draw on an ethnography of these hunting landscapes and historical and archival research to trace the genealogy of the ways in which certain forms of bio-, necro-, and sovereign power are inscribed into the landscape of the Veluwe and how these forms of power continue to play a role in the lives and deaths of these animals today. The case of the Veluwe contributes to a growing understanding of how conservation in many places has emerged as part of elite hunting practices.
... Third, previous work has highlighted the co-existence of different groups of hunters with different motivations and skills (von Essen et al. 2019;Connally et al. 2021;Vajas et al. 2023), with consequences on hunting success (Keuling et al. 2016(Keuling et al. , 2021. Hunters are a heterogeneous group characterized by different identities and motivations that determine their hunting efficiency. ...
Wild ungulate population management in Europe and North America is mainly based on hunting. However, populations continue to grow despite hunting pressure, particularly wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations, with significant economic and environmental consequences. Meanwhile, hunters’ number is declining. In order to understand the hunting effectiveness and to improve management strategies, the cullability conceptual framework, derived from fisheries science, can be applied to the harvesting of terrestrial species. Cullability refers to the probability of culling an individual under specific hunting conditions and can vary in space and time depending on the behavior of the animals and the conditions affecting hunters. While cullability represents a probability of cull, combined with hunting effort, the result is the hunting success, i.e. number of harvested individuals, corresponding to hunting bag result. Using a unique hunting bag dataset including 330,000 hunting trips collected over more than 10 years in Southern France based on daily hunting and weather data, we seek to understand the impact of weather conditions on hunting success and hunting effort using a Bayesian model selection approach. We found that weather conditions significantly affect both hunting success and effort and reveal a reduction in hunting success under rainy and cold conditions, in contrast to a significant increase in success under frost and snowfall. Interestingly, all weather conditions outside the comfort zone of hunters lead to a decrease in hunting effort. This raises interesting questions about the hunters' perception of hunting success, as weather can negatively impact the allocation of hunting effort in situations of potentially greater hunting success. The cullability framework provides a clear understanding of the hunting process by separating all its components, proposing a clear glossary, and identifying the factors that enable hunting success to be interpreted. In a context where hunting is a management tool, each component can represent one of these tools, which can either be controlled or accounted for better in space and time.
Graphical Abstract
Cullability framework and Bayesian modelling reveal non-concomitant impact of weather conditions on hunting success and effort for wild boar.
... or other returned keystone species like wolves(Arbieu et al., 2019), feelings towards beavers are not too different. Permanently present native species like wild boar(Keuling et al., 2016) and fox(Kimmig et al., 2020) also bring negative and positive impacts to humans. Animals that have long disappeared from our landscape have low acceptance to roam free (Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung, 2020). ...
While reintroductions of regionally extinct native species usually benefit ecosystems, reintroduced animals often struggle to locate appropriate habitats where they can establish themselves without conflict with humans. European beavers (Castor fiber) were successfully reintroduced to Germany almost 60 years ago and have reached high abundances again. As beavers can damage trees and change landscapes, they are increasingly in conflict with humans.
We investigated human perceptions of beavers in Germany using an online survey, as they are an example of a reintroduced species with an expanding population and potential conflicts with humans. We asked participants about their emotions (anger, fear, interest, joy) towards beavers and what they consider to be acceptable beaver habitats.
Of nearly 1500 survey participants, 803 (53%) were from the general public, 475 (32%) from the agricultural sector and 219 (15%) from forestry. People in these sectors had very different perspectives: beavers were positively perceived by the general public, but negatively by stakeholders working in agriculture and forestry. Independently of stakeholder groups, we also found regional differences, as participants from Bavaria—the German state with the highest beaver densities—viewed beavers more negatively than those from the rest of Germany.
Zoos and wildlife parks, as well as urban and nature conservation areas, were considered to be the most acceptable habitats for beavers, whereas survey participants did not accept private gardens and cultivated areas as beaver habitats.
We discuss the sources of negative emotions towards beavers and how ecologically suitable habitats differ from those that appear acceptable by humans. Even 60 years after their reintroduction, beavers in Germany are still being recognized as both a novelty and a nuisance. Our findings highlight the need for active beaver management and increased public engagement to enable positive coexistence between beavers and humans in Germany.
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
... However, the spread along the epidemic front into Germany and other countries is not entirely comparable and control measures need to be adapted (Sauter-Louis et al. 2022). It is important to address this risk situation and to take the appropriate measures to contain the disease (Keuling et al. 2016;Liordos et al. 2017;Podgórski and Śmietanka 2018;Vajas et al. 2019). Wild boar management plays a crucial role in limiting the spread of infected individuals, and thus the spread of the virus and the occurrence of enzootics in affected regions (Saegerman 2018;Petit et al. 2019;Chenais et al. 2019) (European Food Safety Authority [EFSA] 2018). ...
In the European Union, African swine fever (ASF) affects wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations in several Member States. Knowledge of population connectivity is important for the implementation of control measures, in particular the establishment of effective barriers. Population genetic comparisons of neighbouring populations can be very helpful in this respect. The present study investigated the genetic differentiation of wild boar in eastern Germany. This region has been affected by ASF since September 2020. A total of 1,262 wild boars from 31 hunting grounds (populations) in ASF-affected and ASF-free districts were sampled over a total area of almost 100,000 km². The study area encompassed a network of geographical factors that promote (roads, rivers, cities) or inhibit (natural areas, habitat corridors) genetic differentiation between wild boar populations. The genetic differentiation of the areas was based on 12 microsatellite markers. Three different Bayesian algorithms were used to analyse the data. The results were combined into a common approach with 9 clusters. Based on the cluster distribution in each population, the connectivity between the areas was quantified. The strongest differentiation was found along an imaginary line along the lower Elbe valley through Berlin and the A11 freeway to the Szczecin Lagoon. In contrast, the Mecklenburg Lake District and the south-east of the study area showed strong connectivity between areas. The special features of the landscapes along the lower Elbe valley, which was assessed as highly connective, and the high barrier effect of the A11 freeway in contrast to the other freeways in the study area show that barrier effects cannot be generalised in principle, but are actually determined by the circumstances of individual structures. The results of the connectivity analysis were compared with the distribution of viral lineages and variants. The genotypes of the wild boar populations and the ASFV lineages and variants showed a good explanatory approach for the observed disease dynamics in the study area. The newly gained knowledge on barriers and regionally different connectivity between wild boar populations can support considerations and measures for the containment of ASF in the affected areas by improving the understanding of wild boar dispersal dynamics.
... es/). Further increments in the number of harvested animals per hunter or promotion of selective hunting of females and juveniles -the key groups to effectively reduce population growth (Bieber and Ruf 2005;González-Crespo et al. 2018;Ueno et al. 2010) -might encounter little support from certain hunter profiles due to operational or motivational reasons (Keuling et al. 2016;Vercauteren et al. 2011). On the other hand, lethal management faces increasing societal opposition (Liordos et al. 2017) and the use of lethal control might appear acceptable only under situations of severe ungulate damages (Martínez-Jauregui et al. 2020). ...
Increasing abundance of large ungulates is raising human-wildlife impacts and the effectiveness of recreational hunting to reduce their population growth is increasingly questioned. We report on long-term trends (> 15 years) in wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) and hunting bags, and on associations between the annual growth rate of WVC and that of hunting bags for three ungulates – the wild boar, the red deer, and the roe deer – and the grey wolf in northwest Spain to evaluate the regulating capacity of recreational hunting at large spatial scale. Wildlife-vehicle collisions increased by 332% in 16 years and 91% of all traffic accidents were caused by collisions with these three ungulates. All ungulate species showed significant positive trends in WVC and hunting bags, but we did not observe a negative association between annual growth rate of hunting bags and that of WVC except for the wild boar. Results suggest that recreational hunting was unable to reduce ungulate population growth at the regional scale. There was no upward trend of vehicle collisions with wolves over the study period, possibly reflecting stable wolf populations. Natural mortality due to predation could be promoted through the protection of apex predators, but the lethal management of apex predators, often based on sociopolitical pressures rather than damage levels, can conflict with the strategy for mitigating ungulate impacts. Ungulate management needs to be reconsidered from an ecological perspective that integrates human management measures, including recreational hunting, based on the population dynamics and the recovery of predator–prey interactions by favoring the expansion of apex predators.
... In addition, in some communities, they are valued as integral aspects of culture and heritage (Maly et al. 2007;Pejchar and Mooney 2009;Weeks and Packard 2009;Boumendjel et al. 2016). Because wild pigs are associated with benefits as well as significant costs, their management can become contentious (Keuling et al. 2016;Carlisle et al. 2022), particularly insofar as the role of wild-pig hunting, as either a means of control or spread of wild-pig populations, is implicated. ...
Context
Wild-pig hunting is a culturally significant recreational and commercial activity in Texas, but the overall impacts are contested. Except for one 1980s study, there has been no research to formally quantify any economic benefits of wild-pig hunting in Texas, which is an important component for weighing the costs and benefits of wild-pig presence in the state.
Aims and methods
To fill that research gap, we surveyed a sample of resident and non-resident 2018–2019 hunting-license holders in Texas about various topics related to their wild-pig hunting activities, including expenditures.
Key results
On the basis of the 37,317 responses received, we estimated that the marginal annual direct economic benefit of wild-pig hunting to the Texas economy ranges between US188.0 million (2022 dollar values). Given that we were not able to distinguish whether purchases were made in or out of state for expenses provided, we believe this range is an upper estimate.
Conclusion and implications
Although hunting is an important consideration in the discussion of wild-pig management, this estimate is dwarfed by the estimated total damage costs associated with wild pigs in Texas.
... This bias observed in drive hunting may be linked to hunters' preferences, with an emphasis on pursuing larger males for coveted trophies (García-Jiménez et al., 2013;Kamieniarz et al., 2020). This raises questions about hunters' perceptions of responsibility in population management, even in the face of acknowledged overabundance issues (Keuling et al., 2016). Nevertheless, age class and sex bias in hunting can be influenced by different factors, like animal behaviour and abundance, population structure, and habitat openness (Mysterud, 2011). ...
... However, urban wildlife problem is ecological and biological, as well as geographical and socio-cultural (Arregui 2023;Broz et al. 2021;Oelke et al. 2022;von Essen and Redmalm 2023). More specifically, implementing and constantly reinforcing such removal strategies questions ethical values and motivations of hunters involved in this regulation system (Emond et al. 2021;Keuling et al. 2016). This new proximity and its management highlight imbrication of care and harm for urban nature, revealing ethical contradictions of urban wildlife management policies. ...
Implementation of nature into urban areas provides resting, breeding, watering, feeding and movement opportunities for urban wildlife, whose knowledge of spatial ecology is still incomplete. This article focuses on space use by urban wild boar Sus scrofa in the central part of the Bordeaux Metropolis (France). We used species distribution modelling to assess urban ecological niche of wild boars and to identify landscape features that they select or avoid. We created a database based on field surveys carried out on a sample of grid cells where evidence of boar presence was recorded. We used logistic regression models to predict wild boar presence in the study area. Our results showed that the probability of boar presence was driven by access to resources and modulated by avoidance of densely built-up areas. In contrast, urban boars appeared to be indifferent to habitat fragmentation and secondary roads. Finally, a large part of the urbanistic urban green frame of Bordeaux was likely to support wild boar. These results provide a first picture of the situation, but must be considered as a first stage of investigations on the spatial ecology of urban boars. They also need to be placed in a broader socio-ecological context. From a life science perspective, urban wild boars provide an excellent example of urban wildlife adaptation. However, human-wildlife coexistence also raises planning, management, socio-cultural and ethical issues. We argue that objectifying wildlife use of urban space is a prerequisite to implement meaningful management measures. With this in mind, we proposed and discussed a simple protocol that could be adapted to other species whose urban ranges are poorly known.
... This increase is due to several intrinsic and external factors, such as high reproductive capacity and ecological plasticity (Meijaard, d'Huart, and Oliver 2011), a warming climate at the northern edge of the species' distribution range (Markov, Pankova, and Filippov 2019), a scarcity of predators (Nores, Llaneza, and Álvarez 2008), and active supplemental feeding (Cellina 2008). Climate is the most important factor limiting the wild boar distribution (Markov, Pankova, and Morelle 2019), whereas hunting efforts appear to be inefficient in managing expanding wild boar populations (Gortázar and Fernandez-de-Simon 2022;Keuling, Strauß, and Siebert 2016;Massei et al. 2015). Wild boar populations are expected to continue growing and dispersing over wider areas in northern regions. ...
... Managing wild boar populations in PAs is challenged by constraints on techniques, human and monetary resources, and management priorities, despite the recurrent calls for the importance of managing invasive species more efficiently in PAs and the creation of innovative ideas to overcome management obstacles (Laurance et al. 2012;Tu and Robison 2013;Pyšek et al. 2020). Although there is a need to avoid invasive species' effects on conservation targets, assessing such effects is not always easy or possible (de Souza and Alves 2014; Keuling et al. 2016;Castilho et al. 2018). Managing invasive species is still infrequent (Kiringe et al. 2007;Genovesi and Monaco 2013). ...
Invasive species pose significant threats to ecosystems and biodiversity, necessitating effective management strategies to mitigate their impacts. One such invasive species of concern is the wild boar in Brazil, which has the potential to cause widespread environmental changes. A national plan for monitoring and controlling invasive species, including the wild boar, was developed in response to this threat. Despite this initiative, uncertainties persist regarding the presence of wild boars in protected areas (PAs) and the effectiveness of current management actions. This study intends to diagnose the situation of wild boars in protected areas within the southern region of Brazil, specifically focusing on their distribution, management techniques employed, and reasons for the lack of management actions. An online questionnaire was sent to 297 PAs, with 134 responding. The findings revealed that wild boars were present in 36 surveyed PAs, but management efforts were only being carried out in 14 of them. Cages and corrals were identified as the most commonly used techniques, with corn serving as the preferred bait. The study identified two primary reasons for the lack of management actions: the wild boar’s low invasion intensity and management capacity limitations. To address these challenges effectively, this study advocates for a centralized organization of management actions and emphasizes the development of materials and resources to support successful management strategies. Implementing these measures is essential to safeguard the conservation of ecosystems and vulnerable species in Brazil’s protected areas and ensure the long-term resilience of these valuable ecological assets.
... Fitting the description of both urban adapter (Castillo-Contreras et al., 2021;Stillfried et al., 2017) and phenotypically plastic species (Brogi et al., 2021;Podg orski et al., 2013), wild boars (Sus scrofa) can be used as a particularly appropriate case study for exploring possible behavioural adaptations of large mammals to a temporally variable human presence. Wild boar is an omnivorous generalist species that is expanding globally (Brook & van Beest, 2014;Keuling et al., 2016;Massei et al., 2015) increasingly present in urban areas where it mostly relies on anthropogenic food (Cahill et al., 2012;Castillo-Contreras et al., 2021;Podg orski et al., 2013;Stillfried et al., 2017). Its presence in urban habitats is the cause of a wide variety of conflicts with humans, including damage to public and private properties, traffic accidents, disease transmission, and even attacks on pets and humans Hagemann et al., 2022). ...
Human‐dominated environments are growing worldwide, forcing animals to adapt to new conditions characterized by increased risks and/or anthropogenic resources availability. While numerous studies have compared behavioural patterns of rural and urban populations, little is known about plastic behavioural responses to temporal variations in human presence. We modelled the behaviour‐specific resource selection of 15 wild boars (Sus scrofa) GPS‐tracked between 2017 and 2019 in a tourist area in Italy characterized by high seasonal variability of human presence. By means of activity sensor data, we differentiated between two behavioural states with different ecological needs: resting (safe shelter) and activity (food intake). We investigated the variability of selection/avoidance of infrastructures and beaches, across seasons and behavioural states. We expected human‐built landscape features to be avoided for resting and selected for activity, with a strength proportional to the seasonal level of human presence. Instead, wild boars selected locations near infrastructures and away from beaches, both for resting and while being active. We showed that the similarity of behavioural patterns exhibited during the resting and active phases was accountable to the wild boar activities being spatially constrained by the proximity with their previous resting location. As expected, the selection for infrastructure proximity and avoidance of beaches peaked in summer (maximum human presence) and was negligible in winter (least human presence), showing that a variable human presence elicits intra‐individual plastic responses in animal populations. Our results suggest the behavioural flexibility of wild boars as a key factor enabling them to rapidly colonize human‐dominated environments.
... Although the recurrent calls for the importance of managing invasive species more efficiently in PAs and ideas to overcome management obstacles (Laurance et al. 2012;Tu and Robison 2013;Pyšek et al. 2020). Although there is a need to avoid invasive species' effects on conservation targets, assessing such effects is not always easy or possible (de Souza and Alves 2014; Keuling et al. 2016;Castilho et al. 2018). Managing invasive species is still infrequent (Kiringe et al. 2007;Genovesi and Monaco 2013). ...
Invasive species pose significant threats to ecosystems and biodiversity, necessitating effective management strategies to mitigate their impacts. One such invasive species of concern is the wild boar in Brazil, which has the potential to cause widespread environmental changes. A national plan for monitoring and controlling invasive species, including the wild boar, was developed in response to this threat. Despite this initiative, uncertainties persist regarding the presence of wild boars in protected areas (PAs) and the effectiveness of current management actions. This study aimed to diagnose the situation of wild boars in protected areas within the southern region of Brazil, specifically focusing on their distribution, management techniques employed, and reasons for the lack of management action. An online questionnaire was sent to 297 PAs, with 134 responding. The findings revealed that wild boars were present in 39 of the surveyed PAs, but management efforts were only being carried out in 14 of them. Cages and corrals were identified as the most commonly used techniques, with corn serving as the preferred bait. The study identified two primary reasons for the lack of management action: the wild boar's low invasion intensity and management capacity limitations. To address these challenges effectively, the study advocates for a centralized organization of management actions and emphasizes the development of materials and resources to support successful management strategies. Implementing these measures is essential to safeguarding the conservation of ecosystems and vulnerable species in Brazil's protected areas and ensuring the long-term resilience of these valuable ecological assets.
... Forest managers need methods to quantify ungulate impacts on regeneration, as it could be one of the most determinant drivers of the undergoing succession process [24,25]. These impacts are density-dependent [26], and both the environmental and the socioeconomic contexts have favored a steady increase of the ungulate abundances in numerous regions of Europe and northern America in the late 20th and early 21st centuries [27][28][29][30][31]. Recreational hunting is the main factor limiting ungulate populations [28,[32][33][34], but hunting pressure is unlikely to meet societal and sylvicultural optimums without science-based quantification of ungulate impacts [35]. ...
Ungulate impacts on forest understory alter tree species composition, with cascading effects on forest functions and resilience against future climate conditions. Indeed, the ungulate browsing pressure on tree seedlings is species-specific and causes contrasted growth reductions that alter tree recruitment rates. Untangling the effects of browsing from the effects of the other factors driving regeneration success is required to guide the forest and ungulate management. In particular, Fagus sylvatica L. strongly dominates temperate Quercus-Fagus forests close to their climax, and it remains unclear if controlling ungulate populations can maintain tree species diversity in naturally regenerated forests. We addressed this question by monitoring 734 pairs of fenced and unfenced 6-m² plots across a broad gradient of Cervus elaphus L. abundance in Belgian Quercus-Fagus forests managed by continuous cover forestry. Seedling height, density, and vegetation cover were monitored from 2016 to 2021. Species diversity and ecological affinity for light, temperature, and atmospheric humidity conditions were computed from these measures. With ungulates, the mean growth of Betula pendula Roth. and Sorbus aucuparia L. was negligible, whereas, without ungulates, their growth was higher than the growth of other species. With ungulates, the growth of Fagus sylvatica L. and Picea abies (L.) H. Karst was higher than other species. Quercus (Quercus petreae (Matt.) Liebl and Quercus robur L.) growth was the lowest in all conditions. Finally, Carpinus betulus L. was heavily browsed but still grew higher than its competitors with ungulates. Ungulate browsing can then severely affect seedling growth and likely reduce the diversity of future recruited trees. In the study area, browsing unfavored the regeneration of the species that are less shade tolerant, more-drought tolerant, and more-heat tolerant. It thus accelerates the natural succession and reduces forest resilience to heat and drought events. Such an observation was found valid over a wide study area encompassing contrasting levels of Cervus elaphus L. abundance. Combining further reductions of ungulate populations with foodscape improvement is likely required to maintain species diversity in these forests.
... Intervention options included in the plot represent: carcass (carcass search and destruction), culling (depopulation measures), fencing (fencing and barriers), biosafety (wild boar hunting and manipulation biosafety), and habitat management (wild boar habitat management) (Bragina et al. 2015) evidencing that intense hunting at a large geographical scale can change population trends. By contrast, current harvest rates seem insufficient to control the population trends in Europe (Keuling et al. 2016;Massei et al. 2015). ...
The native Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa) is a relevant wildlife host for African swine fever (ASF) virus, contributing to infection maintenance and spread and representing a challenge for disease control. Combining published scientific evidence with expert opinion, we provide an updated global overview of ASF control in wild boar and feral pigs in different epidemiological scenarios. We synthesize current knowledge on key background aspects of wild boar ecology and management and on ASF epidemiology in wild boar and their relative, the feral pig. We propose that establishing a proper surveillance and monitoring scheme is a requisite for disease control in wildlife and that ASF and wild boar should be monitored in an integrated way, considering the changes in the host population as well as the spatial spread and temporal distribution of disease indicators, to make possible a critical assessment of the impact of interventions. The main body of the manuscript reviews the intervention options and ASF control attempts and their outcomes in different epidemiological situations from peacetime to endemicity. Current ASF control in wild boar relies on three essential tools: carcass destruction, wild boar culling, and fencing. The experience gained since the onset of the ongoing ASF pandemic shows that certain combinations of interventions can slow down ASF spread and eventually succeed in ASF eradication in wild boar, at least after point introductions. Several strengths and weaknesses of these strategies are identified.
... Keuling et al (2016b) bringen die Ergebnisse der Umfrage in der Überschrift ihrer Veröffentlichung auf den Punkt: "Regulating wild boar populations is "someone else's problem". Zwar wird die Problematik von den meisten Jägern erkannt, aber im eigenen Umfeld ist eine Bereitschaft zur Reduktion nur in den Hegeringen vorhanden, die bereits hohe Bestände und entsprechende (Wildschadens)probleme haben. ...
Die vorliegende Publikation richtet sich sowohl
an den interessierten Praktiker, der seine Jagdstrategien auf Schwarzwild auf den Prüfstand stellen möchte oder neue Impulse sucht, als
auch an Akteure aus anderen tangierten Bereichen wie der Land- und Forstwirtschaft. Gleichzeitig geben wir einen möglichst umfassenden
Überblick für Entscheidungsträger in Politik und
Verwaltungsbehörden, welche in Bezug auf die
notwendige Reduktion des Schwarzwildes konsensfähige Weichen stellen müssen. Unser Ziel ist es, die Lücke zwischen wissenschaftlichen
Publikationen, welche außerhalb der Wissenschaft selten gelesen werden und der leider oft mit gefühlten und tradierten Wahrheiten überfrachteten Jagdliteratur zu schließen.
... Furthermore, and due to its high behavioural plasticity, the wild boar has successfully adjusted itself to a wide range of landscapes in the last decades, including urban areas 6,7 . As a consequence, wild boar population lethal control remains the only cost-effective measure to manage human-wild boar conflicts in most cases 8,9 . However, hunting is unfeasible and/or illegal in certain scenarios due to safety and/or social constraints 10 and then other management measures must be considered 11 . ...
Applying contemporary trapping standards when managing wildlife should no longer be an option, but a duty. Increasing wild boar populations originate a growing number of conflicts and hunting is the only cost-effective management option in most cases. However, new scenarios where hunting is unfeasible emerge and trapping necessities cope with lacking regulatory frameworks and technical guidelines. In this research, we evaluated drop nets, a capture method not considered by the international trapping standards, to capture Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa), a wildlife species not included in the list of mammal species under the scope of the Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards (AIHTS). Less than 20% of the captured wild boars presented moderate or severe injuries attributable to the capture method, hence fulfilling the acceptance thresholds of the outdated AIHTS. Based on the new standards thresholds of acceptance, the humaneness of drop-nets in our study ranged 66–78%, under the 85% required. The capture success and selectivity were 100%, as ensured by operator-driven triggering, which should be considered the main strengths of this method, together with the minimization of animal suffering owing the short duration of the stressful situation. Additionally, in spite of the socially adverse environment, with people contrary to wild boar removal, no disturbances against the capture system or operations occurred. This is the first assessment of a drop-net capture method according to internationally accepted mammal trapping standards, with unconclusive results. However, there is a need for adapted procedures and thresholds of acceptance aimed at not-mechanical traps in general, and specifically at drop-nets. Compared to other live-capture methods, drop-nets minimize the duration of the stressful situation —at the expense of a strong adrenergic acute response—, maximize the probabilities of capturing entire sounders of prosocial species, which may be also considered as more humane, and has the ability to coordinate higher values of capture success, absolute selectivity and adaptability to difficult environments.
... The wild boar, a fertile animal requiring only 1.5 years for reproductive maturation, can have an average litter of 4-5 piglets. Without human pressure, wild boar can explosively increase their number and break out to neighboring areas [69,70] . Adult boars are strong and fast and can reach speeds up to 40 km/h, leap 1 m high, and lift over 70 kg objects with their sharp International Journal of Surgery: Global Health tusks [71] . ...
Nuclear power plants are deeply integrated into our society. They possess substantial risk for major disasters. Two of the worst-categorized nuclear power plant disasters were Chernobyl and Fukushima, emitting large amounts of radioactive materials and required mass evacuations in neighboring areas. This is a rapid review of the literature. We searched PUBMED and Medline for original studies of all large nuclear power plant disaster information documented in literature. Eighty-three publications were identified in the review. The results are summarized in categories based on direct health effects such as immediate health effects, indirect health effects related to evacuation, cancer, behavioral effects and environmental effects like proliferation of wildlife and other infectious diseases. Nuclear power plant disasters have a great impact on human health including increased rates of cancer, behavioral and psychosocial problems, and evacuation related problems. These disasters can lead to major environmental impact, specifically on wildlife, resulting in unanticipated health consequences for local populations. In this review, we describe these consequences of nuclear power plant disasters as they apply to local health care workers.
... Cserkèsz and co-workers in 2012 reported that of many kinds of repellents tested, only one was effective in the short term [276]. Thus, the identification of the hot spots of wildlife-vehicle collision risk and the drivers of this phenomenon, such as the habitat characteristics, is crucial to the selection of mitigating strategies [274,277,278]. ...
The recent and ever-growing problem of boar (Sus scrofa forms including wild boar, hybrid and feral pig) expansion is a very complex issue in wildlife management. The damages caused to biodiversity and the economies are addressed in different ways by the various countries, but research is needed to shed light on the causal factors of this emergency before defining a useful collaborative management policy. In this review, we screened more than 280 references published between 1975–2022, identifying and dealing with five hot factors (climate change, human induced habitat modifications, predator regulation on the prey, hybridization with domestic forms, and transfaunation) that could account for the boar expansion and its niche invasion. We also discuss some issues arising from this boar emergency, such as epizootic and zoonotic diseases or the depression of biodiversity. Finally, we provide new insights for the research and the development of management policies.
... Shifts to nocturnal behavior in response to human disturbance have been observed in multiple species, and such shifts have been hypothesized to affect individual fitness, population dynamics, species interactions, and evolution (Gaynor et al., 2018). In wild boar, adjusting activity to times when humans are less active seems to be a fitness-enhancing strategy, as indicated by the increasing wild boar populations across Europe (Carpio et al., 2020;Keuling et al., 2013Keuling et al., , 2016Massei et al., 2015). ...
Understanding the spatio‐temporal distribution of ungulates is important for effective wildlife management, particularly for economically and ecologically important species such as wild boar (Sus scrofa). Wild boars are generally considered to exhibit substantial behavioral flexibility, but it is unclear how their behavior varies across different conservation management regimes and levels of human pressure. To analyze if and how wild boars adjust their space use or their temporal niche, we surveyed wild boars across the core and buffer zones (collectively referred to as the conservation zone) and the transition zone of a biosphere reserve. These zones represent low and high levels of human pressure, respectively. Specifically, we employed a network of 53 camera traps distributed in the Schaalsee UNESCO Biosphere Reserve over a 14‐month period (19,062 trap nights) and estimated circadian activity patterns, diel activity levels, and occupancy of wild boars in both zones. To account for differences in environmental conditions and day length, we estimated these parameters separately for seven 2‐month periods. Our results showed that the wild boars were primarily nocturnal, with diurnal activity occurring dominantly during the summer months. The diel activity patterns in the two zones were very similar overall, although the wild boars were slightly less active in the transition zone than in the conservation zone. Diel activity levels also varied seasonally, ranging from 7.5 to 11.0 h day−1, and scaled positively with the length of the night (R2 = 0.66–0.67). Seasonal occupancy estimates were exceptionally high (point estimates ranged from 0.65 to 0.99) and similar across zones, suggesting that the wild boars used most of the biosphere reserve. Overall, this result suggests that different conservation management regimes (in this case, the zoning of a biosphere reserve) have little impact on wild boar behavior. This finding is relevant for wildlife management in protected areas where possibly high wild boar densities could interfere with conservation goals within these areas and those of agricultural land use in their vicinity. In this study, we analyzed whether wild boars adjust their space use or their temporal niche according to spatial differences in management within a biosphere reserve. We employed a network of 53 camera traps distributed in the Schaalsee UNESCO Biosphere Reserve over a 14‐month period (19,062 trap nights) and estimated the circadian activity patterns, activity levels, and occupancy of wild boars in the conservation and transition zones; these zones represent low and high levels of human pressure, respectively. Wild boars were primarily nocturnal, diel activity levels were positively correlated with the length of the night and did not differ markedly between zones; occupancy estimates were high and were similar in both zones . Overall, these results suggests that different conservation management regimes (in this case, the zoning of a biosphere reserve) have little impact on wild boar behavior.
... Unfortunately, these are rarely and unwillingly used in scientific research and management practice in wild boar. It may be caused by their high cost, the large amount of labour required and also by the administrative barriers (Massei et al. 2015;Keuling et al. 2016). The small number of wildlife biologists and game managers with professional experience in the method of estimating wildlife numbers may be another factor. ...
The spread of the African swine fever through wild boar population has caused major losses in the pig industry. Therefore, to decrease the population density of wild boar in Poland, the culling of these animals has been dramatically increased. However, the effect of depopulation is unknown because there are no methods that could be used throughout the country to estimate the number of wild boar. Thus, during two hunting seasons an attempt was made to estimate the number of wild boar using data from collective hunts. The forested area of 21 hunting districts (351.5 km ² ) was divided into five sampling inventory blocks (SIBs), which were used for the statistical analysis of the population density, the harvest rate and results of collective hunts. The average population density obtained by a driving census amounted to 8.19 ± 1.12 and 10.09 ± 1.06 ( x̅ ± SE), animals/km ² , which indicates that 2879 and 3547 wild boar were living in the study area in 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 seasons respectively. The number of wild boars bagged per one hunting plot was adopted as the harvest success index (HBI). In SIBs the HBI value fluctuated in the range of 0.55 to 1.87 individuals/hunting plot and the population density ranged from 6.46 to 12.18 wild boars/km ² . The non-linear regression showed a positive relationship between the HBI index and the population density. The discussion covers the possibility of using collective hunts to estimate the number of wild boar in Poland and in the European Union.
... Lethal methods (e.g., sharpshooting, toxicants) aim to reduce the wild pig population size, whereas non-lethal methods (e.g., contraception and deterrents) intend to reduce damage without causing direct harm to the animals (Liordos et al., 2017). Management of wild pigs is controversial and involves conflicts among stakeholders and wildlife agencies, who may have differing attitudes toward the topic, often creating a barrier to effectively addressing the problem Colvin et al., 2015;Daniels & Walker, 2001;Keuling et al., 2016). For example, hunters and farmers hold negative attitudes toward wild pigs McLean et al., 2021), suggesting less tolerance of the species and a desire for elimination that may not be widely accepted among the broader public. ...
Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) pose significant challenges to wildlife managers. This research explored Texas hunters’ acceptability of wild pig control actions, and whether acceptability varied according to hunters’ affiliation with four different categories of natural resource organizations as an indicator of social identity. Results of a survey (n = 37,317) revealed that most hunters were accepting of all control actions except toxicants and non-lethal deterrents. Mean acceptability scores for each action differed significantly across the four affiliation categories, but effect sizes were minimal. Hunters affiliated with agricultural organizations were the most accepting of control actions, while hunters with no organizational affiliations were least accepting. Findings suggested that while the type of organization with which a hunter affiliates provides some basis for predicting acceptability of control actions, the association is likely not significant enough to warrant differentiating wild pig outreach messaging on the basis of affiliation.
... However, it is estimated that extraction by hunting or predation should exceed 65% of the population if the annual recruitment is to be compensated. In other words, only by extracting two-thirds of the population would it be possible to stop its growth, and this target is difficult to reach (Keuling et al., 2013(Keuling et al., , 2016. ...
An expert knowledge elicitation was conducted to address three tasks identified by EFSA's Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) Panel: categorize outdoor farm types of pigs in EU MS according to the risk of African Swine Fever (ASF) introduction into these farms and the risk of ASF spread from these farms, rank biosecurity measures according to their potential to lower the risk of ASF introduction into these farms and the risk of ASF spread from these farms in ASF‐affected countries, and propose improvements of biosecurity for outdoor pig farming categories and the control measures that should flank these in ASF‐affected countries. The elicitation was conducted with four scientists with expertise in ASF epidemiology, biosecurity and outdoor farming practices and structures, including organic and backyard farming of pigs outdoors. The first task was addressed by eliciting estimates for the risk of new ASF outbreaks in the areas of interest in the coming year for two types of outdoor pig farms, specified by EFSA. As a worst‐case scenario for assessment, the EKE considered areas of the EU where ASF is present in wild boar and in domestic pigs in indoor farms and, if outdoor farms were to be permitted in such areas, in domestic pigs in outdoor farms. The second task was addressed by developing a preliminary list of biosecurity measures, prioritising 7 measures in terms of expected effectiveness in reducing risk for each farm type, and then eliciting estimates of the effectiveness, feasibility and sustainability of each of the prioritised measures, considered separately. The third task was addressed by brainstorming of potential control measures to be considered in conjunction with improved biosecurity. The results are intended for consideration by the EFSA AHAW Panel when developing a Scientific Opinion on ASF and outdoor pig farming.
... Other hunters report costly, cumbersome, physically demanding, and lonesome hunts (often at night) and injuries and scars from wild boar skirmishes (Massey et al., 2011). Where hunters view regulating wild boar populations in agricultural landscapes as "someone else's problem, " friction between farmers and hunters over wild boar culling has surfaced in debates about disease management (Keuling et al., 2016). ...
The ongoing devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought new urgency to questions surrounding the origins, management, and complex dynamics of infectious diseases. In this mini review, we use growing international concern over the pandemic potential of emerging infectious diseases as motivation for outlining a research approach to study the emotional dimensions of animal disease management. We sketch out this important analytical terrain by first locating opportunities for literature on the biosecurization of nature to intersect with the emerging field of emotional political ecology. Second, we describe three biosecurity contexts and environmental conflicts at the wildlife-livestock interface: African swine fever in wild boar, brucellosis in elk, and pneumonia in bighorn and domestic sheep. We argue that in these “contact zones,” a focus on emotions can add a new layer of explanation for analyzing the manifestations, implications, and varied experiences of biosecurity.
Simple Summary
The wild boar, found on all the continents except Antarctica, is among the most valuable game species worldwide. However, the recent increase in their numbers has caused negative impacts, such as biodiversity loss, crop destruction, vehicle collisions, and disease transmission. Therefore, wildlife managers need to apply appropriate strategies to achieve three goals: providing sufficient game, mitigating impacts, and securing viable populations. Such efforts cannot be successful without the consent and participation of key stakeholders such as wild boar hunters. We asked 134 hunters of the Evros Prefecture in Greece, a wild boar stronghold, about their practice of hunting and their motivation for hunting. Hunting is carried out in groups, while the number of days out, kilometers traveled, and weekly expenses for hunting in a hunting season suggest the strong attachment of hunters to their game. Hunting is mostly considered a recreational activity (offering contact with nature and excitement, enjoyment of wildlife, bonding with fellow hunters and their dogs, and an opportunity for improving physical shape and reducing stress), although utility is also an important motivation (feeling useful for the family, helping wild boar control and the local economy). Hunters with strong recreation and utility motivations want wild boar populations to further increase. This information can be incorporated into education and outreach programs, to educate hunters about the risks with which increased wild boar numbers are associated. Educated hunters will then offer valuable contributions to effectively manage the situation.
Abstract
The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is a widespread ungulate, the populations of which have recently increased throughout most of its range. This increase has caused negative impacts on ecosystems, biodiversity, and society. Nowadays, the wild boar is considered both a valuable game and a pest. Wildlife managers need to know the habits and motivations of wild boar hunters, a key stakeholder group, for effectively managing this controversial mammal. We carried out face-to-face interviews with 134 wild boar hunters in the Evros Prefecture, in the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, northern Greece to determine their hunting habits and their motivation for hunting. Most hunters owned a hunting dog (84.3%), hunted in groups of eight to nine people for 48 days, traveled 60 km, stayed outdoors for 4 nights, and spent weekly EUR 61 on average in each hunting season. Two motivations for wild boar hunting were prominent among the hunters (assessed on a 5-point scale; 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree): a strong recreation motivation (hunting as a recreational activity; mean score 4.159 ± 1.144 SD) and a considerable utility motivation (hunting for its use values; 3.404 ± 1.11). Both recreation and utility motivations were positively associated with the preference for further increases in wild boar populations. Sociodemographic characteristics and hunting habits variously affected motivations and preferred future population trends. The findings revealed specific habits and strong motivations among hunters. Such findings will be useful for designing and implementing education and outreach programs for informing hunters about the negative impacts of wild boars and the need for their control. The participation of hunters in the management process will be critical for its success.
Wild ungulates are expanding in range and number worldwide leading to an urgent need to manage their populations to minimize conflicts and promote coexistence with humans. In the metropolitan area of Barcelona (MAB), wild boar is the main wildlife species causing a nuisance, from traffic accidents to health risks. Selective harvesting of specific sex and age classes and reducing anthropogenic food resources would be the most efficient approach to dealing with overpopulation. Nonetheless, there is a gap in knowledge regarding the age and sex selectivity of the capture methods currently applied in the MAB for wild boar population control.
Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the performance and age and sex bias of different hunting and capture methods and the seasonal patterns in their performance (number of captured individuals per event). From February 2014 to August 2022, 1,454 wild boars were captured in the MAB using drop net, teleanaesthesia, cage traps, night stalks, and drive hunting. We applied generalized linear models (GLM) to compare the performance of these methods for the total number of wild boars, the wild boars belonging to each age category (i.e., adult, yearling, and juvenile), and for each season.
The studied capture methods showed age-class bias and sex bias in adults (>2 years). Drive hunting and drop net removed mainly adult females and yearlings (1-2 years), with drive hunting having the highest performance for adult males. Instead, cage traps and drop net were the best methods to capture juveniles (<1 year). Overall, global performance was higher in summer, decreasingly followed by autumn and spring, winter being the worst performing season. Wildlife managers and researchers should consider the different performance and sex and age bias of each hunting and capture method, as well as the associated public cost, to improve efficiency and achieve the best results in wild boar population management.
ASF is a potentially panzootic viral pig disease, which has recently affected the Italian territory with multiple hotspots. According to the recent EU Regulation, immediate eradication measures must be taken as soon as it is detected. As no vaccine or drugs are available against ASF, preventive measures are crucial for disease management: in swine farms, these include depopulating, physically isolating vulnerable holdings, contact tracing of animals and related products, and enforcing biosecurity throughout the production chain. Outbreaks are managed by isolating the infected area, thus causing extremely harsh socioeconomic effects on both individual farms and downstream economies, exerted mainly by the restrictions applied on the commercialization of live swine and swine products.
A cornerstone of ASF prevention and management is the early detection and removal of viral reservoirs: in Europe, this is mainly represented by the wild boar, whose management is considered crucial for disease control: the measures to be implemented include the active quest and removal of cadavers, an important demographic decrement, and the predisposition of an infrastructural network for collecting, sampling and disposing of carcasses and cadavers.
Given the high resistance of ASFV, all these activities must be carried out observing stringent biosafety measures throughout a precise territorial compartmentalization, requiring high level skills, landscape expertise, coordination between different stakeholders, and the setup of an efficient operational hierarchy.
The present work describes the setup of these measures in preparation of an ASF outbreak in Pordenone EDR (ex-province), northeast Italy, and the main aspects to be considered for an efficient management of wild boar and wild boar cadavers in case of ASF introduction. An overview of ASF ecology and targeted legislation is given, in a view to draft a comprehensive framework of ASF management in wild boar at an operational scale.
This comprehensive species-specific chapter covers all aspects of the mammalian biology, including paleontology, physiology, genetics, reproduction and development, ecology, habitat, diet, mortality, and behavior. The economic significance and management of mammals and future challenges for research and conservation are addressed as well. The chapter includes a distribution map, a photograph of the animal, and a list of key literature.
Human-wildlife conflict is rapidly evolving in response to significant ecological, social, and economic changes affecting society globally. Developing objective and acceptable resolution strategies is challenging because of divergence in perceptions and understandings of human-wildlife conflict between urban and rural populations, and this disparity is increasing with rapid urbanization. In this study, we explore preferences for wild boar conflict management in China using a mixed methods approach of a survey, choice experiments, and interviews. We found that significant differences in the preferences of wild boar management exist between rural and urban residents. The majority of rural residents preferred hunting whereas most urban residents in cities remote from the conflict preferred non-hunting measures. However, we found that economic cost played an important role in influencing public preferences for management measures. The urban population had positive preferences for hunting if they were required to pay an environmental tax to compensate farmers for crop damage when asked to consider their preferred management strategy package. We consider that the current management of hunting wild boar in China requires improvement, and we argue that China should adjust the current hunting management policy to take into account the benefits of wild boar population control and the economic development of the surrounding rural areas.
The increase in wild boar numbers in recent decades is partly due to the involvement of most young females in reproduction as early as their first year of life. After the rut of adult females is over, young females are still entering oestrous as they attain maturity, prolonging the rutting period by several months. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of seasonality on the growth rate of male wild boar bodies, the growth of piglet and yearling male wild boar gonads, and sperm concentration in the epididymides. We found that yearlings' weight and body length were almost constant in summer and autumn, with a sharp increase in winter. Seasonality was also reflected in the body condition index, which rose by more than 41% between summer and winter. In terms of seasonality, the testimetric dimensions again differed significantly only in winter. Sperm were recorded in piglets weighing more than 15 kg. Regardless of the time of capture, 41% of piglets were examined as juveniles, only 6%, resp. 8% of piglets reached low or medium concentration values. While 10% of all yearling males were azoospermatic (juvenile), regardless of weight, there was evidence of seasonality in the proportion of males with measurable concentrations. These concentrations gradually increased from 62.5% in summer to 78.6% in winter. No sterile male over two years of age was noted. The results show that even in wild boars, there is a culmination not only of physical characteristics in winter but also a culmination of testimetric dimensions. Sperm already occur in 15 kg of piglets, which means they can theoretically participate in the fertilisation of female piglets.
This comprehensive species-specific chapter covers all aspects of the mammalian biology, including paleontology, physiology, genetics, reproduction and development, ecology, habitat, diet, mortality, and behavior. The economic significance and management of mammals and future challenges for research and conservation are addressed as well. The chapter includes a distribution map, a photograph of the animal, and a list of key literature.
Despite all the means implemented to manage wild boar populations in France, it appears that there is an increase in negative interactions with humans (damage to crops, road accidents, etc.). In France, the main means of managing these populations is hunting, and more particularly drive hunting, which contributes the most to the national hunting bag. However, despite all the efforts invested in the hunting activity, some populations continue to increase and expand. Therefore it seems essential to understand the mechanisms of drive hunting which can explain the number of wild boar culled. To understand the "hunting model" we can decompose the hunting process into a few key components of hunting effort and animal catchability, i.e the probability of catching an animal. Thus, a hunting effort exerted on a given population of a given size characterized by a given catchability, will lead to a certain harvest. (i) A first study examines the components of drive hunting effort which explains the hunting pressure observed on wild boar populations in Chateauvillain territory. Hunting effort is a complex notion that resume several modalities of hunting. Thus, the effort can include a number of posted hunters, a number of beaters, a number of dogs etc. From all the modalities that make up the drive hunting, we determined that the metric of the hunting effort exerting pressure on the wild boar populations included a number of hunters per drive hunting event per unit area. (ii) A second study was carried out using the hunting logs of hunters from Ardèche and Hérault to distinguish the effect of catchability from that of abundance in the prediction of the hunting bag as a function of variable hunting effort. These notebooks summarize several information relating to hunting such as the number of hunters, the date and location of the hunt as well as the number of wild boars culled for each drive hunting event in these departments. The results of our modeling allowed us on the one hand to estimate wild boar densities and on the other hand to estimate catchability values. These catchability values reflect the local hunting difficulties for catching a wild boar depending on the hunting conditions. These results allow us to predict a hunting bag as a function of the hunting effort invested according to the hunting conditions. (iii) A third study allowed us to assess the effect of weather conditions on the success of a hunt as well as on the effort invested by the hunters. The results showed us a decrease in success as well as a decrease in effort under bad weather conditions. All of these studies have enabled us to improve scientific knowledge on the functioning of the hunting process, and have also enabled us to provide results that may find application in the management of wild boar.
Abstract The European Commission asked EFSA to provide study designs for the investigation of four research domains (RDs) according to major gaps in knowledge identified by EFSA in a report published in 2019: (RD 1) African swine fever (ASF) epidemiology in wild boar; (RD 2) ASF transmission by vectors; (RD 3) African swine fever virus (ASFV) survival in the environment, and (RD 4) the patterns of seasonality of ASF in wild boar and domestic pigs in the EU. In this Scientific Opinion, the second RD on ASF epidemiology in wild boar is addressed. Twenty‐nine research objectives were proposed by the working group and broader ASF expert networks and 23 of these research objectives met a prespecified inclusion criterion. Fourteen of these 23 research objectives met the predefined threshold for selection and so were prioritised based on the following set of criteria: (1) the impact on ASF management; (2) the feasibility or practicality to carry out the study; (3) the potential implementation of study results in practice; (4) a possible short time‐frame study (< 1 year); (5) the novelty of the study; and (6) if it was a priority for risk managers. Finally, after further elimination of three of the proposed research objectives due to overlapping scope of studies published during the development of this opinion, 11 research priorities were elaborated into short research proposals, considering the potential impact on ASF management and the period of one year for the research activities.
Résumé en Français:
Malgré l’ensemble des moyens mis en œuvre pour gérer les populations de sangliers en France, il appert une augmentation des interactions négatives avec l’Homme (dégâts dans les cultures, accidents de la route etc.). En France, le principal moyen pour gérer ces populations est la chasse, et plus particulièrement la chasse en battue, qui contribue le plus au tableau de chasse national. Cependant, malgré tous les efforts investis dans l’activité de la chasse, certaines populations continuent d’augmenter et de s’étendre. Il semble alors essentiel de comprendre les mécanismes de la chasse en battue qui permettent d’expliquer le nombre de sangliers prélevés. Pour comprendre le « modèle chasse », nous pouvons décomposer le processus de la chasse selon quelques indicateurs clés que sont l’effort de chasse et la capturabilité des animaux, c’est-à-dire la probabilité de capturer un animal. Ainsi, un effort de chasse exercé sur une certaine population d’une certaine taille caractérisée par une certaine capturabilité, conduira à un certain prélèvement. (i) Une première étude s’interroge sur les composantes de l’effort de chasse en battue qui explique la pression de chasse observée sur les populations de sangliers sur le territoire de Chateauvillain. L’effort de chasse se présente comme une notion complexe qui résume plusieurs modalités de la chasse. Ainsi, l’effort peut regrouper un nombre de chasseurs postés, un nombre de rabatteurs, un nombre de chiens etc. De l’ensemble des modalités que composent l’effort la chasse en battue, nous avons déterminé que la métrique de l’effort de chasse exerçant une pression sur les populations de sangliers regroupait un nombre de chasseurs par battue par unité de surface. (ii) Une seconde étude a été menée en utilisant les carnets de battues des chasseurs de l’Ardèche et de l’Hérault pour distinguer l’effet de la capturabilité de celui de l’abondance dans la prédiction de la pression de chasse en fonction d’un effort de chasse variable. Ces carnets résument plusieurs informations relatives à la chasse comme le nombre de chasseurs, la date et le lieu de chasse ainsi que le nombre de sangliers prélevés pour chaque battue de ces départements. Les résultats de notre modélisation nous ont permis d’une part d’estimer des abondances relatives de sangliers et d’autre part d’estimer des valeurs de capturabilité. Ces valeurs de capturabilité traduisent les difficultés locales de chasse dans le prélèvement de sangliers selon les conditions de chasse. Ces résultats nous permettent de prédire une pression de chasse en fonction d’un effort de chasse investi selon les conditions de chasse. (iii) Une troisième étude nous a permis d’appréhender l’effet des conditions météorologiques sur le succès d’une chasse ainsi que sur l’effort investi par les chasseurs. Les résultats nous ont montré une diminution du succès ainsi qu’une diminution de l’effort sous de mauvaises conditions météorologiques. L’ensemble de ces études nous a permis d’améliorer la connaissance scientifique sur le fonctionnement du processus de chasse, et nous a également permis de fournir un certain nombre de résultats pouvant trouver une application dans la gestion du sanglier._____________________________________________________________________________
English Abstract:
Despite all the means implemented to manage wild boar populations in France, it appears that there is an increase in negative interactions with humans (damage to crops, road accidents, etc.). In France, the main means of managing these populations is hunting, and more particularly drive hunting, which contributes the most to the national hunting bag. However, despite all the efforts invested in the hunting activity, some populations continue to increase and expand. Therefore, it seems essential to understand the mechanisms of drive hunting which can explain the number of wild boar culled. To understand the "hunting model" we can decompose the hunting process into a few key components of hunting effort and animal catchability, i.e the probability of catching an animal. Thus, a hunting effort exerted on a given population of a given size characterized by a given catchability, will lead to a certain harvest. (i) A first study examines the components of drive hunting effort which explains the hunting pressure observed on wild boar populations in Chateauvillain territory. Hunting effort is a complex notion that resume several modalities of hunting. Thus, the effort can include a number of posted hunters, a number of beaters, a number of dogs etc. From all the modalities that make up the drive hunting, we determined that the metric of the hunting effort exerting pressure on the wild boar populations included a number of hunters per drive hunting event per unit area. (ii) A second study was carried out using the hunting logs of hunters from Ardèche and Hérault to distinguish the effect of catchability from that of abundance in the prediction of the hunting pressure as a function of variable hunting effort. These notebooks summarize several information relating to hunting such as the number of hunters, the date and location of the hunt as well as the number of wild boars culled for each drive hunting event in these departments. The results of our modeling allowed us on the one hand to estimate wild boar densities and on the other hand to estimate catchability values. These catchability values reflect the local hunting difficulties to catching a wild boar depending on the hunting conditions. These results allow us to predict a hunting pressure as a function of the hunting effort invested according to the hunting conditions. (iii) A third study allowed us to assess the effect of weather conditions on the success of a hunt as well as on the effort invested by the hunters. The results showed us a decrease in success as well as a decrease in effort under bad weather conditions. All of these studies have enabled us to improve scientific knowledge on the functioning of the hunting process, and have also enabled us to provide results that may find application in the management of wild boar.________________________
Manuscript written in French (introduction, m & m, discussion) and chapters (articles) in English
Das Schwarzwild breitet sich weiterhin aus und besiedelt nun auch die Agrarlandschaften. Es ist zu erwarten, dass die Schwarzwildstrecken, gefördert durch Landschafts- und Klima-veränderungen, mittelfristig weiter steigen und somit auch die Bejagung als unzureichend erscheint. Aus ökologischen und ökonomischen Gründen ist ein fundiertes jagdliches „Ma-nagement“ zur Regulation oder gar Reduktion der Schwarzwildbestände unabdingbar. Ins-besondere nach Auftreten der ASP innerhalb der EU und der drohenden Gefahr eines er-neuten Ausbruches der KSP bekommen diese Forderungen enormes Gewicht.
Im Rahmen des dreijährigen Projektes “Schwarzwild – Management in Niedersachsen“ wurden in drei verschieden Teilen Niedersachsen (Ostniedersachsen, Südoldenburg und Bremervörde) sich des Problems mit verschieden Fragestellungen angenommen. Es ist dringend erforderlich, genauere Kenntnisse zu Populationsdichten, Vorkommen und allge-meiner Wildbiologie dieser Spezies zu erlangen. Über Radiotelemetrie wurde Raum- und Habitatnutzung in einer agrardominierten Region mit im Aufbau begriffener Schwarzwild-population untersucht. Die durchschnittliche Streifgebietsgröße von Rotten betrug 700 ha, wobei im Schnitt 6 Reviere vom Streifgebiet erfasst wurden. Diese Streifgebietsgrößen lie-gen im Vergleich zu anderen Gebieten mit Schwarzwildvorkommen im oberen, mittleren Bereich. Klar zutage trat aber eine saisonale Verschiebung der Streifgebiete von den Wäl-dern in die Felder. Der Wald spielt dabei ganzjährig eine wichtige Rolle, die in den Som-mermonaten aber zurücktritt. Die für das Schwarzwild so wichtige Deckung wird in den Sommermonaten durch den Mais auch auf ansonsten freier Fläche gegeben. Die in Deutschland immer wieder diskutierte Rolle der Leitbache konnte aus praktischen und technischen Gründen nicht weiter erforscht werden. In einer Literaturstudie zeigte sich jedoch, dass die Leitbache für die Bejagung nicht von ausschlaggebender Bedeutung zu sein scheint.
Um Voraussagen treffen zu können und damit die Möglichkeit zu schaffen, vorzeitig Eingrei-fen oder potentielle Gefahren (Krankheitsübertragung) erkennen zu können, wurde ein Ha-bitatnutzungsmodell erarbeitet. Es wurden verschiedene Habitatvariablen berechnet und auf Gemeindeebene übertragen. Zu einem aufbauend auf die Jagdstrecke und zum anderen auf Telemetriedaten, wurde die Habitateignug für Schwarzwild in Niedersachsen abgebil-det. So zeigt die Habitateignung, dass insgesamt der Südosten Niedersachsens, mit Aus-nahme der Landkreise Braunschweig, Hannover, Salzgitter und Wolfenbüttel, geeigneter als der Nordwesten ist. Es zeigten sich so auch potentielle Ausbreitungswege des Schwarzwil-des und damit insbesondere auch von Krankheiten wie der KSP und aktuell auch der ASP. In Südost-Niedersachsen weisen sieben Landkreise mehr als 75% sehr gut oder gut bewer-tete Flächen auf. Erstaunlicherweise sind dieses nicht unbedingt die Landkreise die derzeit
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die höchsten Jagdstreckendichten haben. Somit ist in weiten Teilen Niedersachsens noch ein deutlicher Anstieg der Schwarzwildbestände zu erwarten.
Um eine Wildart managen zu können, sind möglichst genaue Angaben über die Be-standsgröße, d.h. über Frühjahrsbestand, Reproduktionsraten, abzuschöpfendem Zuwachs sowie Bejagungseffizienz essentiell. Verlässliche Daten über die Dichten des Schwarzwildes liegen bisher jedoch nicht vor. Zwei Ansätze zur Dichtebestimmung des Schwarzwildes wurden ausgearbeitet. Mit dem Random Enconter Model (REM), lassen sich mithilfe von Wildkameras, die Bestände erfolgreich einschätzen. Diese Methode sollte zukünftig weiter ausgebaut werden und es sollte sowohl die Habitatnutzung, wie auch das tendenzielles Ansteigen der Population stärker mit einbezogen werden. Das Distance Sampling (Ansitz-zählung) ist zwar eine kostengünstige Methode der Bestandserhebung, weist für Schwarz-wild aber einige Lücken auf, die beim Anwenden der Methode beachtet werden müssen. Die Umsetzung einer flächendeckenden Dichteberechnung scheint durchaus möglich. Je-doch muss die Dichte innerhalb eine Bejagungsgemeinschaft (Hegering, Hegegemeinschaft etc.) auf der ganzen Fläche bekannt sein, um zu einer Effizienzkontrolle zu kommen.
Um die Reproduktionsraten und damit letztendlich den abzuschöpfender Zuwachs, aber auch eine Kontrolle der Bejagungseffizienz zu erhalten, wurde im weiteren verschieden Probenentnahmen bei erlegten Schwarzwild, mit einhergehender Altersbestimmung über die drei Untersuchungsgebieten durchgeführt. Über die Entnahme der Trachten bei weibli-chen und Keilerhoden bei männlichem Wild, sowie Muskelgewebe von allen erlegten Stü-cken, konnten neue Erkenntnisse über Rauschettermine, Fetenanzahl und deren Geschlech-terverhältnis, Beginn der Geschlechtsreife bei Frischlingen und damit letztendlich das Re-produktionspotential der Schwarzwildpopulation gewonnen werden. So ist gesichert, dass Frischlingsbachen mit 8 Monaten zu knapp 75% sowie Frischlingskeiler zwischen 7 und 11 Monaten geschlechtsreif sind. Bei beiden Geschlechtern ist die Geschlechtsreife stark mit dem Körpergewicht, also dem Ernährungszustand der Tiere korreliert. Die Untersuchungen zeigen, dass das Reproduktionspotential stabil bei 240% liegt. Eine ganzjährige Studie müsste aber klären, wie die tatsächliche Vermehrungsrate von Frischlingen, der damit ab-schöpfbare Zuwachs und die Fortpflanzungssaisonalität der Altersklassen ist. Über die Ko-operation mit der Universität Bonn, konnte erstmals für Deutschland multiple Vaterschaft beim Schwarzwild festgestellt werden. Auch zeigte sich, dass das Geschlechterverhältnis sich über molekulargenetischen Methoden genauer bestimmen lässt, als visuell. Bei ausrei-chend hohen Probenvolumen kann eine zuverlässige Abschätzung der aktuellen Populati-onsdichten durchgeführt werden.
Des Weiteren wurden Kartierungen von Schwarzwildschäden per Ablaufen der Flächen, aber auch per Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) erhoben. So konnten wichtige Faktoren (z.B.: Nähe zu Deckungsstrukturen) definiert werden, die bei der Bejagung mit einbezogen wer-
3
den sollte. Vor allem die Methode der Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) wurde hier getestet, da bisher keine einheitliche Erfassung von Wildschäden existiert. Hierbei zeigte sich, dass die-se Methode ein paar Schwachpunkte hat, da sie sehr von den örtlichen Windverhältnisse abhängig ist und die Kosten im Vergleich zu den erhobenen Schadenssummen nicht in Re-lation steht.
Ein weiterer sehr wichtiger Punkt bei der Betrachtung des Managements einer Art ist neben dem Aspekt der Wildbiologie, der betroffenen Personenkreis. Die bereits langjährig durch-geführten Umfragen in der WTE der LJN, geben einen guten Einblick in das Meinungsbild der Jäger. Hier zeigt sich die Unkenntnis dessen, was bei der Schwarzwildbejagung eigent-lich tatsächlich passiert. Bei der Betrachtung der Frage, wie viel Prozent des Schwarzwildbe-standes denn wirklich abgeschöpft wurden, konnte kaum eine Antwort gegeben werden. Betrachtet man aber die schwankenden Jagdstrecken im 10-jährigen Mittel, so steigen die Strecken in den niedersächsischen Landkreisen an.
Hohe Populationsdichten und hohe Vermehrungsraten erfordern hohe Jagdstrecken. Die anpassungsfähigen Wildschweine sind eindeutige Gewinner in unserer Kulturlandschaft. Sie erschließen sich zunehmend neue Lebensräume. In Niedersachsen dehnen die Wild-schweine ihren Lebensraum zunehmend in die westlichen Landkreise aus. Sie sind zuneh-mend auch verstärkt in Siedlungsbereichen zu beobachten. Die enormen Streckensteige-rung, insbesondere ab den 1990er Jahren und dem damit begründbaren Populationsan-stieg, liegt zweifelsohne eine anhaltend hohe Vermehrungsrate des Schwarzwildes zugrun-de. In den drei vergangenen Jagdjahren wurden in Niedersachsen sehr hohe Jagdstrecken erzielt. Bei gleichzeitiger Ausbreitung kann davon ausgegangen werden, dass auch in Zu-kunft neue Streckenrekorde erfolgen. So ist der Landkreis Wesermarsch der einzige Land-kreis, in dem bisher noch gar kein Schwarzwild erlegt wurde. Es ist jedoch nur noch eine Frage der Zeit, bis wann auch die letzten Vorkommenslücken weitgehend geschlossen wer-den. Auch wenn das Hauptaugenmerk auf der Frischlingsbejagung liegen sollte, so muss doch 80% des Jahreszuwachses erlegt werden. So sollte die jagdlich praktizierte Schonung der Leitbachen nicht zur Schonung von nachrangigen Bachen führen. Gerade auf Einzeljagd sollte aufgrund der Tatsache, dass meist nur ein Stück erlegt werden kann, mit Hinblick auf einen regulativen Eingriff, ein Stück mit der potentielle höchsten Lebensreproduktionser-wartung erlegt werden (Bachen 2-3 Jahren). Die Jagdstrecken in der Jägerschaft Bremervör-de (Landkreis ROW) entsprechen den Zielvorgaben des Lüneburger Modells sehr gut. Eine der wesentlichen Ursachen hierfür dürfte sein, dass schon seit Jahren im Herbst, insbeson-dere zur Zeit der Maisernte, gemeinschaftliche Ansitz-Anrühr-Jagden auf Hegeringebene durchgeführt werden, so dass der Hauptteil der Strecke auf diesen weiträumigen Jagden erlegt wird. Dies könnte sich evtl. auch für andere Bereiche als geeignet erweisen. Ein wich-tiger Baustein der Bejagung könnte damit auch eine großzügigere Freigabe aller Altersklas-sen bei Drückjagden sein.
Around the Regional Nature Reserve NazzanoTevere-Farfa in Central Italy, wild boar ecological and economic
impacts have increased over the last decade, creating the need for an integrated wildlife management approach. Since 2006, park authorities have used an average of 17 % of the yearly protected area budget for compensation and 5 % for preventive measures. Additionally, 14 wild boar/km2 were culled in 2009. While the management tools used in the protected area were effective in reducing the species’ impacts, they did not decrease human-wild boar controversies. To understand the reasons behind such conflicts, user opinions toward the wildlife management approaches used (i.e., preventive measures, compensation, capture, and removal) and planned (i.e., culls) in Nazzano-Tevere-Farfa were explored. Face-to-face interviews were carried out with the general public (n=288), hunters (n=57), and farmers (n=107) in 2009–2010. Differences in attitudes toward preventive measures (χ2(8)=40.35, p<.001), compensation (χ2(8) = 34.11,p<.001), capture and removal (χ2(8)=98.23, p<.001), and culls (χ2(8)=77.10, p<.001) were highlighted by Chi-square analysis. The Potential for Conflict Index showed that, overall, park users supported preventive measures and compensation, but not capture and removal and culls. Workshops organized with hunters and farmers in 2010 highlighted that park authorities had not considered user expectations when planning wild boar management. If decision makers want to address conflicts, they need to go beyond standard management by tailoring their practices to the specific social context in which they work. Effective management is not only about reducing impacts, it is also about listening to people living with wildlife.
Climate change is known to affect ecosystems globally, but our knowledge of its impact on large and widespread mammals, and possibly population-specific responses is still sparse. We investigated large-scale and long-term effects of climate change on local population dynamics using the wild boar ( Sus scrofa L.) as a model species. Our results show that population increases across Europe are strongly associated with increasingly mild winters, yet with region-specific threshold temperatures for the onset of exponential growth. Additionally, we found that abundant availability of critical food resources, e.g. beech nuts, can outweigh the negative effects of cold winters on population growth of wild boar. Availability of beech nuts is highly variable and highest in years of beech mast which increased in frequency since 1980, according to our data. We conclude that climate change drives population growth of wild boar directly by relaxing the negative effect of cold winters on survival an
Hunters' estimates of pair densities of the grey partridge Perdix perdix as derived from an annual questionnaire survey ('Game Survey Lower Saxony', WTE) were evaluated by comparison with detailed ground-truthing censuses in 123 randomly chosen hunting districts representing 63,847 ha potential grey partridge habitat. Estimates and evaluation-census-densities were highly significantly correlated. The median of the hunters' estimate errors, disregarding the direction of the relative discrepancy, was 24.2%. Hunters underestimated the density per 100 ha potential habitat by 0.16 breeding pairs on average. The discrepancy increased with higher grey partridge densities and increasing size of the hunting district. The satisfactory agreement between the estimates of the hunters, in most cases local farmers, and the evaluation survey is explained by their comprehensive year-round presence through their hunting, farming but also their leisure activities and their special interest in this charismatic bird combined with its site fidelity. We recommend the consultation of WTE data as a valuable source of basic information on distribution and abundance of grey partridges to identify spatial conservation priorities, to justify conservation initiatives and to adapt management practices.
The sustainable use of natural resources such as game animals requires adjusting extraction to changes in population abundance. Population abundance monitoring is thus necessary to ensure an adaptive management, but this can be difficult in the case of migratory species where breeding areas are in remote places without local monitoring programs. Predictive models of the winter abundance based in the relation between climate and reproduction success or survival could be a useful alternative to monitoring networks in the breeding areas. In this paper, we evaluate the role of weather variables as indicators of winter abundance estimates. We used Game Abundance Indices (total number of woodcock observed during hunting days, divided by the number of hunting hours), collected by volunteer hunters during 21 seasons, and temperature, rainfall and number of days with snow, calculated in May, June and July in the breeding areas and December to January in the winter areas. The best models explaining variations in winter abundance included number of rainy days in May and June and temperature in July as explanatory variables. All variables were positively correlated with abundance except temperature in July. The predictive quality of the best model based on a leave-one-out cross-validation procedure (i.e. the Pearson correlation coefficient between observed values and LOO-predicted values) was 0.76. We discuss the applications of this predictive model to develop an adaptive hunting management scheme for the species.
Across Europe wild boar numbers increased in the 1960s-1970s but stabilised in the1980s; recent evidence suggests that numbers and impact of wild boar grew steadily since the 1980s. As hunting is the main cause of mortality for this species, we reviewed wild boar hunting bags and hunter population trends in 18 European countries from 1982 to 2012. Hunting statistics and numbers of hunters were used as indicators of animal numbers and hunting pressure. The results confirmed that wild boar increased consistently throughout Europe whilst the number of hunters remained relatively stable or declined in most countries. We conclude that recreational hunting is insufficient to limit wild boar population growth and that the relative impact of hunting on wild boar mortality had decreased. Other factors, such as mild winters, reforestation, intensification of crop production, supplementary feeding and compensatory population responses of wild boar to hunting pressure might also explain population growth. As populations continue to grow, more human-wild boar conflicts are expected unless this trend is reversed. New interdisciplinary approaches are urgently required to mitigate human-wild boar conflicts that are otherwise destined to grow further.
Most cervid populations in Europe and North America are managed through selective harvesting, often with age- and sex-specific quotas, with a large influence on the population growth rate. Less well understood is how prevailing weather affects harvesting selectivity and off-take indirectly through changes in individual animal and hunter behavior. The behavior and movement patterns of hunters and their prey are expected to be influenced by weather conditions. Furthermore, habitat characteristics like habitat openness are also known to affect movement patterns and harvesting vulnerability, but how much such processes affect harvest composition has not been quantified. We use harvest data from red deer (Cervus elaphus) to investigate how weather and habitat characteristics affect behavioral decisions of red deer and their hunters throughout the hunting season. More specifically, we look at how sex and age class, temperature, precipitation, moon phase, and day of week affect the probability of being harvested on farmland (open habitat), hunter effort, and the overall harvest numbers. Moon phase and day of week were the strongest predictors of hunter effort and harvest numbers, with higher effort during full moon and weekends, and higher numbers during full moon. In general, the effect of fall weather conditions and habitat characteristics on harvest effort and numbers varied through the season. Yearlings showed the highest variation in the probability of being harvested on farmland through the season, but there was no effect of sex. Our study is among the first to highlight that weather may affect harvesting patterns and off-take indirectly through animal and hunter behavior, but the interaction effects of weather and space use on hunter behavior are complicated, and seem less important than hunter preference and quotas in determining hunter selection and harvest off-take. The consideration of hunter behavior is therefore key when forming management rules for sustainable harvesting.
Emerging and zoonotic diseases are important challenges for veterinary and public health. It is therefore a key issue to assess the relative importance of various factors for disease dynamics and to understand the mechanisms behind these factors and interactions. Here, we evaluate the influence of a number of demographic and genetic factors on porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) antibody prevalence in the European wild boar (Sus scrofa). We measured PCV2 blood serum antibody levels of 462 randomly sampled wild boars from a
cross-border area in the Netherlands and western parts of Germany in a 3-year period. These samples were also genotyped using a randomly selected genome-wide 351 SNP assay. Generalized linear mixed model analysis shows that wild boar PCV2 antibody status is determined by age and genetic heterozygosity, with an idiosyncratic influence of the year of sampling. In contrast, sex, population membership and domestic hybrid status did not significantly affect PCV2 antibody status. The observed positive relationship between
PCV2 antibody status and age ismost likely caused by cumulative exposure and PCV2-typical intracellular hiding behaviour. The observed positive relationship between wild
boar genetic heterozygosity and PCV2 antibody status could be attributed to disappearance of relatively inbred (low-heterozygosity) individuals. This finding suggests that PCV2 can act as a selective force in wild boar populations and that disease mortality can be mediated by host heterozygosity.
Wild boar science is changing a lot. The species wild boar (Sus scrofa), once threatened, is one of the latest domesticated species. Wild boar is so successful that currently it causes strong economic and ecological damages all over the world. The interest in Sus scrofa continues to grow rapidly, not only within its native range, but also in all other continents where wild boar and feral pigs have been introduced.
Environmentally sensitive and adaptative management plus conservation of wild boar, feral pigs and other suids is of increasing concern to conservation biologists, wildlife managers, veterinarians, policy makers and the general public. Important advances in research may help managing wild boar as a pest and other suids as threatened species. Also a good exchange with stakeholders is of huge importance within wildlife management.
In this special issue of Wildlife Biology in Practice some results from the 9th International Symposium on Wild Boar and other Suids as well as additional publications on wild boar are centralised.
All together 110 participants from 24 countries took part at the 9th ISWB in Hannover, Germany. The main part of the 59 presentations focused on wild boar management and monitoring (29 contributions). These numbers points out the importance of wild boar in all parts of its current distribution area. Everywhere populations are increasing (with some very few exceptions). In many of these regions economic problems, mainly by agricultural damages, road accidents and animal diseases are the main drivers for scientific interests.
Recently many researchers try to establish, or even to create, reliable and practical census methods. Only with reliable data on numbers, reproduction, im- and emigration as well as mortality rates, managers will be able to know the efficiency of management methods. Even if a lot of effort is done, it looks like we are still far away from successful control of wild boar or feral pigs’ populations. This leads to the "human dimension": are wildlife managers able to regulate populations without or in other cases with the hunters?
Thecontributionsanddiscussionson this symposium showed that the knowledge on the "well known" wild boar so far is incomplete. Recent studies show, that this "plastic" species is still changing its behaviour in space and habitat use, activities, reproduction and many other matters. We are not at the beginning of the knowledge on wild boar, however, we are far away from a nearly understanding of this fascinating species.
In recent decades, the wild boar Sus scrofa has simultaneously increased its population size and colonized new habitats, causing more ecological and socio-economic concern than perhaps any other ungulate species. However, the drivers and mechanisms of the species' spatial ecology remain poorly understood. Thanks to a recently developed framework, the movement ecology of any organism can now be tackled within a consistent and unified theoretical approach.
Based on this framework, we reviewed the literature on wild boar movement ecology to assess current knowledge and to identify important gaps.
By using important navigational (e.g. olfactory sense) and cognitive (e.g. spatial memory, learning from conspecifics) abilities, wild boar have developed complex movement strategies to cope with external factors. However, there is a lack of detailed information on the role played by the internal state (motivation) and motion capacity in shaping the spatial ability of the species.
Specific aspects of the movement ecology of the wild boar, together with its high diet plasticity and its high prolificacy, are probably the most important causes of the rapid spread of wild boar worldwide.
We hope our review will inspire other scientists to apply their biological models to the movement ecology paradigms. Furthermore, we suggest that future researchers dealing with the movement ecology of any species should explicitly state the components and interactions of the framework investigated to facilitate further understanding and comparison among studies.
As human populations grow, conflicts with wildlife increase. Concurrently, concerns about the welfare, safety and environmental impacts of conventional lethal methods of wildlife management restrict the options available for conflict mitigation. In parallel, there is increasing interest in using fertility control to manage wildlife. The present review aimed at analysing trends in research on fertility control for wildlife, illustrating developments in fertility-control technologies and delivery methods of fertility-control agents, summarising the conclusions of empirical and theoretical studies of fertility control applied at the population level and offering criteria to guide decisions regarding the suitability of fertility control to mitigate human–wildlife conflicts. The review highlighted a growing interest in fertility control for wildlife, underpinned by increasing numbers of scientific studies. Most current practical applications of fertility control for wild mammals use injectable single-dose immunocontraceptive vaccines mainly aimed at sterilising females, although many of these vaccines are not yet commercially available. One oral avian contraceptive, nicarbazin, is commercially available in some countries. Potential new methods of remote contraceptive delivery include bacterial ghosts, virus-like particles and genetically modified transmissible and non-transmissible organisms, although none of these have yet progressed to field testing. In parallel, new species-specific delivery systems have been developed. The results of population-level studies of fertility control indicated that this approach may increase survival and affect social and spatial behaviour of treated animals, although the effects are species- and context-specific. The present studies suggested that a substantial initial effort is generally required to reduce population growth if fertility control is the sole wildlife management method. However, several empirical and field studies have demonstrated that fertility control, particularly of isolated populations, can be successfully used to limit population growth and reduce human–wildlife conflicts. In parallel, there is growing recognition of the possible synergy between fertility control and disease vaccination to optimise the maintenance of herd immunity in the management of wildlife diseases. The review provides a decision tree that can be used to determine whether fertility control should be employed to resolve specific human–wildlife conflicts. These criteria encompass public consultation, considerations about animal welfare and feasibility, evaluation of population responses, costs and sustainability.
Human activities may cause conservation concerns when animal populations or ecosystems are harmed and animal welfare concerns when individuals are harmed. In general, people are concerned with one or the other, as the concepts may be regarded as separate or even at odds. An online purposive survey of 339 British Columbians explored differences between groups that varied by gender, residency, wildlife engagement level and value orientation (conservation-oriented or animal welfare-oriented), to see how they rated the level of harm to wildlife caused by different human activities. Women, urban residents, those with low wildlife engagement, and welfare-orientated participants generally scored activities as more harmful than their counterparts, but all groups were very similar in their rankings. Activities that destroy or alter habitat (urban development, pollution, resource development and agriculture) were rated consistently as most harmful by all groups, including the most conservation-oriented and the most welfare-oriented. Where such a high level of agreement exists, wildlife managers should be able to design management actions that will address both conservation and animal welfare concerns. However, the higher level of concern expressed by female, low engagement and welfare-oriented participants for activities that involve direct killing indicates a need for wildlife managers to consult beyond traditional stakeholders.
Public perceptions of wildlife vary by species, context, and culture. Understanding these perceptions helps managers understand how their decisions may generate conflict among stakeholders. We mailed questionnaires to residents in the northern region of Hyogo prefecture in Japan to examine their willingness to tolerate wildlife species of greatest concern to government officials, including: (a) native species frequently causing agricultural damage (wild boar [Sus scrofa], sika deer [Cervus nippon], Japanese macaque [Macaca fuscata]), (b) vulnerable species (Asiatic black bear [Ursus thibetanus]), (c) endangered species (reintroduced oriental white stork [Ciconia boyciana]), and (d) non-native, invasive species (nutria [Myocastor coypus]). We used the Potential for Conflict Index (PCI2) to analyze our data, and found that respondents’ (n = 868) acceptance was highest for the endangered oriental white stork and lowest for the non-native nutria. These perceptions also varied with sociodemographic characteristics, including a significant negative relationship between age and willingness to have boar, deer, macaque, bears, and nutria nearby.
Individuals can increase inclusive fitness benefits through a complex network of social interactions directed towards kin. Preferential relationships with relatives lead to the emergence of kin structures in the social system. Cohesive social groups of related individuals and female philopatry of wild boar create conditions for cooperation through kin selection and make the species a good biological model for studying kin structures. Yet, the role of kinship in shaping the social structure of wild boar populations is still poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated spatio-temporal patterns of associations and the social network structure of the wild boar Sus scrofa population in Białowieża National Park, Poland, which offered a unique opportunity to understand wild boar social interactions away from anthropogenic factors. We used a combination of telemetry data and genetic information to examine the impact of kinship on network cohesion and the strength of social bonds. Relatedness and spatial proximity between individuals were positively related to the strength of social bond. Consequently, the social network was spatially and genetically structured with well-defined and cohesive social units. However, spatial proximity between individuals could not entirely explain the association patterns and network structure. Genuine, kin-targeted, and temporarily stable relationships of females extended beyond spatial proximity between individuals while males interactions were short-lived and not shaped by relatedness. The findings of this study confirm the matrilineal nature of wild boar social structure and show how social preferences of individuals translate into an emergent socio-genetic population structure.
Among Ungulates, the wild boar (Sus scrofa scrofa) is characterised by a mixture of particular life history traits which associate a high fecundity and an early age at first reproduction with a large body size and a potential long life expectancy. Moreover, unlike most ungulates which are rather strict herbivores, the wild boar is an omnivore. This uncommon life-history strategy is associated with an increase in population size. Indeed, in Europe, wild boar populations are currently still growing and cause some socio-economical problems due to the damage that wild boars generate to the human activities. Hence the understanding of the factors primarily involved in this increase in population size as well as the modelling of population dynamics is now essential to better manage wild boar
populations. This work rely on a long term data set (25 years) of a hunted wild boar population in the eastern part of France (Haute-Marne).
The analyses of maternal allocation in reproduction highlighted that in utero, the sex ratio decreased as litter size increased. Sex ratio was male-biased for litter size up to 6 and then became female-biased in larger litters. Producing large female-biased litters may be an adaptive adjustment to avoid strong sibling competition during lactation and therefore to maximise the number of recruited offspring. The threshold weight above which females can reproduce is around 28 kg live weight but once females become sexually mature, they will reproduce every year. However, the onset of oestrus may be delayed according to the available resources and vary year-to-year.
Natural mortality was disentangled from hunting mortality by using Capture-Recapture multi-states models. Males’ survival did not vary yearly but did vary with age-classes and the probability to be hunted increased with age up to around 70%. Females’ survival did vary yearly and also differed between age-classes with the yearly survival probability of females younger than one-year old being smaller than that of older females. Compared to other large mammals, adult females’ survival was lower and more variable over time possibly because of higher reproductive investment, especially in young adults. Those demographic characteristics reveal that wild boars could not be managed like other ungulate species.
So, we developed a new modelling approach and retained a sex-specific body mass dependent model to assist managers. In this way, managers have the possibility to directly test the outcome of the model by comparing observed and expected distributions of wild boars killed by hunters among sex- and body mass-specific classes. They can assess the performance of a given hunting rule and simulate the respective efficiency of management
scenarios.
KEY WORDS: Wild boar ; Sus scrofa scrofa ; Ungulate ; France ; population dynamics ; management model ; multi-state model ; Capture-Mark-Recapture ;demography ; sex-ratio ; maternal allocation ; hunted population
The wild boar S us scrofa is an omnivore with one of the largest geographical ranges of all species. However, no synthesis exists on its diet, feeding behaviour and factors affecting food selection in its native and introduced ranges.
A literature review and a test of effect size revealed significant differences in wild boar diet composition in native and introduced ranges. Wild boar diet is dominated by plant material (∼90%) in both ranges, but animal matter and fungi are consumed in greater proportions in the introduced range than in the native range. Food items frequently include agricultural crops (especially in the native range) and endangered animal species (especially in the introduced range). Energy requirements, food availability, and seasonal and geographical variations are major factors influencing food selection by wild boar. These factors may also interact with human activities (e.g. agricultural crops, supplementary feeding) to influence diet composition further.
Dietary studies should be more rigorous and consistent across ranges to allow better comparisons. A detailed study of diet in combination with seasonal patterns of habitat use could provide key information such as target species and susceptible habitats on which management efforts should focus.
The increase in large carnivore populations in a number of European countries causes numerous social conflicts and populations need to be kept at levels that are acceptable to the public. This may eventually require opening up or increasing public hunting of species like bear, wolf, wolverines and lynx as a management strategy. We surveyed a sample of 672 Norwegian hunters to examine how they judged a set of dilemmas associated with hunting carnivores versus ungulates. More than one-half of the sample would like to maintain or increase the current population sizes of the large carnivores (for wolverines: 57.5%; bears: 65.6%; wolves: 66.1%; lynx: 59.6%). A large majority of hunters (85.5%) emphasise not stressing the game over securing success in killing game, require adequate shooting skills (87.7%), linking harvest strategies to ecological principles (79.5%) rather than the level of conflict, and sustainable wildlife populations (95.1%) over optimum economic yield. Carnivore hunting is associated with a stronger preference for quotas based on science rather than local knowledge as well as paying more attention to the conflict level, compared to the judgments made for ungulate hunting. Positive attitudes toward maintaining or increasing carnivore populations are associated with a concern for animal welfare, and faith in scientific information, ecological values and sustainable wildlife populations.
In many parts of Europe, wild boar Sus scrofa population increase, and thus, high densities and dispersal into new areas are accompanied by economic problems. Due to many factors like insufficient hunting strategies as well as underestimation of population densities and reproduction rates, harvest rates seem to be insufficient. Thus, we calculated mortality rates of several wild boar populations from 1998 to 2009, to show the efficiency of hunting within several studies distributed over eight European states. For calculating mortality rates, the daily probability of survival of radio telemetrically observed wild boar was analysed according to Mayfield (Wilson Bull 73:255-261, 1961) and with survival analysis in R for three age classes (0, 1, ≥2 years) and both sexes. The mortality rates of wild boar per annum, especially piglets, were comparably low (about 0.5 for piglets and similar for total population). About three third of all observed animals survived at least until the next period of reproduction. Mortality rates differed between some study areas, the sexes and age classes. The sex ratio of the shot piglets equals the sex ratio of captured piglets; there seems to be no sex-biased hunting in this age class, but in an older age. Shooting was the main cause of death; only very few animals died by natural causes, e.g. diseases. The comparative analysis of all studies reflects a low mortality of wild boar in highly productive populations. Our results certified the findings of several studies that predation, natural mortality, and road mortality have only small impact on wild boar populations, whereas especially, nutrition or hunting are mainly decisive. Assuming net reproduction rates of more than 200 % according to literature data, our results indicate that harvest rates are not sufficient at our study sites. In all our studies, mortality rates and, thus, harvest rates are less than the assumed total net reproduction. Especially, the harvest rate of piglets seems to be insufficient. Thus, the population will increase further. High reproduction has to be counteracted by regulating mainly the reproductive animals. For regulating a population, combined and effective hunting methods have to be conducted to harvest at least the net reproduction. Thus, we recommend higher hunting rates of piglets (80 % of the offspring should be harvested) and of adult females. Intensified hunting of piglets by drive hunts and at an early age as well as intensified single hunt on adult females might help regulating wild boar populations.
This study analyses the natal dispersal of red deer and wild boar in order to compare their dispersal capabilities in southern Belgium and to evaluate the relevance of management unit areas (MUA) designed for their monitoring. Dispersal was studied thanks to a mark-recovery method based on 111 red deer fawns and 1,613 piglets. The recovery rate of ear-tagged animals was 68 and 40 %, respectively. In both species, sub-adult males moved on longer distances (
red deer = 4.82+/−4.17 km and
wild boar = 4.90+/−5.65 km) than females and juveniles
(red deer = 1.84+/−1.46 km and
wild boar = 2.49+/−3.74 km). Taking into account the age and sex categories, we found no difference between species in dispersal mean distance. But we observed higher maximal dispersal distances in wild boar compared to red deer. The natal home range mean sizes were 5.29 km2 (+/−4.87) for red deer and 6.23 km2 (+/−4.60) for wild boar. Red deer and wild boar showed similar dispersal rates according to age and sex category: 53 and 42 % in sub-adult males and 14 and 16 % in females and juveniles. Our results confirmed the higher proportion of philopatry in females and juveniles of both species compared to sub-adult males more likely to disperse. Wild boar of any sex or age seemed to be less sensitive than red deer to infrastructure (road, rail, river) network on which the management unit area limits are currently based.
Feral hogs (Sus scrofa) are among the most widely-distributed mammals in the world and have the highest reproductive output compared with other ungulates. Worldwide, feral hogs are increasing in range and numbers. Human–feral hog confl icts include impact on abundance and richness of plant and animal species, crop damage, predation on livestock, vehicle collisions, and disease transmission. We reviewed methods employed to mitigate the impact of feral hogs on human activities and discussed these methods in terms of effectiveness, feasibility, costs, and social acceptance. Traditional methods of control include trapping, angering, shooting, poisoning, and Judas hogs. Nonlethal methods of control include fertility control, fencing, repellents, diversionary feeding, and translocation.The review indicated that successful eradications of feral hogs from islands have been achieved by combining different control methods and by establishing post-eradication monitoring to ascertain that the eradication had been completed. Conversely, on the mainland and in countries where feral hogs have long been established, management of human–feral hog confl icts often relies on population size reduction through hunting and poisoning the animals or on exclusion fencing and diversionary feeding. In the majority of instances, population control is not based on previous knowledge of local densities or on predicted impact of control on population size. Based on these results, we propose a framework of criteria to guide decisions regarding the suitability of different options to manage human–feral hog confl icts in different contexts.
Population sizes of wild boar (Sus scrofa) and the damage they cause to crops have been increasing in Japan. Reliable techniques are needed to estimate the potential for damage at the landscape scale. Here, we predict the risk of damage to rice (Oryza sativa) paddies by wild boar in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, by means of three different modelling methods – Maxent, generalised linear model (GLM) and generalised additive model (GAM) – using a combination of presence-only damage data obtained from a local agency and environmental information derived from publicly available databases. We used damage locations in 2007 and 2008. To validate the models, we calculated the area under the curve (AUC) and the correct classification rate (CCR) using independent data obtained in field surveys. The three methods gave similar results, indicating that we could construct a predictive model with high accuracy from presence-only data. Among these three, Maxent showed the closest fit, with 0.78 AUC and 72.6% CCR values. Because it is important to estimate the risk of damage to reduce future damage and costs, these damage prediction methods using presence-only data, which administrative agencies can obtain with no cost, this could assist local governments in formulating damage control plans.
In comparison to North America, human dimensions of wildlife (HDW) remains a relatively new field in Europe, especially in Italy. This article provides a European overview of HDW using Italy as a case study. Overall, 300 European HDW documents were retrieved, out of which 32 were found for Italy. Multiple languages and unpublished documents limited the findings at a European level. The case study highlights the constraints of conducting a review at a larger scale. A bibliometric analysis was used to investigate the trends, the main themes and actors playing a role in the Italian HDW up to and including 2009. The majority of Italian documents were gray literature, about general public attitudes toward large carnivores. Most of the results of the case study can be generalized to Europe. Although HDW is growing, the discipline still strives to be recognized academically and as a decision-making tool.
Efforts to eradicate Invasive Alien Species (IAS) often become controversial, yet public support is essential for the success of eradication projects. Issues regarding IAS often require immediate action, but information about public attitudes toward and support for IAS management in Japan is lacking. This study examined public preferences for eradication of raccoons (Procyon lotor) (classified as an IAS in Japan) and identified factors affecting preference. Data were obtained from residents of Kanagawa prefecture in Japan via a Web survey. Logistic regression models revealed that preference for eradication of raccoons was relatively low (31%), and that the public lacked knowledge regarding raccoon management. Attitudes toward raccoons, attitudes toward damage, knowledge of raccoon issues, age, gender, and duration of residence were predictors of public preference for eradication. Preference for eradication was not related to having seen the once popular “Raccoon Rascal” cartoon.
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Deer numbers have increased dramatically throughout Europe and North America over the last century, but empirical analyses of variation in harvesting and the influence of biological and cultural factors are lacking.
We examined trends in size and composition of red deer Cervus elaphus harvests over the last three to four decades in 11 European countries with contrasting deer productivity, management strategies and hunting traditions.
The harvest increased exponentially in all countries except Austria and Germany, where it was stable, and Poland, where it has declined in recent years. Harvest growth rates ranged from 0·009 in Austria to 0·075 in Sweden and depended on the management system and harvest composition, being negatively related to the proportion of females in the adult harvest.
Within four focal countries (France, Hungary, Norway and Scotland), there was considerable spatial variation in harvest growth rates. These tended to be higher in recently colonized areas than in traditional hunting areas and were often higher than the maximum possible population growth rate. Range expansion was an important component of the increase in total harvest in France and Scotland, but not in Hungary or Norway.
Harvest composition was available for seven countries, all of which showed a strong increase in the proportion of calves in the harvest. The sex ratio of the adult harvest was relatively stable, being strongly male‐biased in Norway and marginally female‐biased elsewhere. The proportion of males in the harvest was unrelated to trophy hunting objectives.
Synthesis and applications . Our study emphasizes that cultural aspects of management need to be accounted for, as well as biological factors, when interpreting the patterns of harvest growth and composition across Europe. Widespread sustained harvest growth has occurred, suggesting continued growth of deer populations with consequent social and economic impacts. Population control is therefore a major challenge for the future, currently hampered by inadequate population data and a decreasing number of hunters in some countries. Increasing the motivation of hunters to harvest female deer is one possible solution, although this may conflict with hunting traditions and economic considerations in some areas.
Abstract We assessed age-specific natural mortality (i.e., excluding hunting mortality) and hunting mortality of 1,175 male and 1,076 female wild boar (Sus scrofa) from Chǎteauvillain-Arc en Barrois (eastern France), using a 22-year dataset (1982–2004) and mark-recapture-recovery methods. Overall yearly mortality was >50% for all sex and age-classes. Low survival was mostly due to high hunting mortality; a wild boar had a >40% of chance of being harvested annually, and this risk was as high as 70% for adult males. Natural mortality rates of wild boar were similar for males and females (approx. 0.15). These rates were comparable to rates typical of male ungulates but high for female ungulates. Wild boar survival did not vary across sex and age-classes. Despite high hunting mortality, we did not detect evidence of compensatory mortality. Whereas natural mortality for males was constant over time, female mortality varied annually, independent of fluctuations in mast availability. Female wild boar survival patterns differed from those reported in other ungulates, with high and variable natural mortality. In other ungulates, natural mortality is typically low and stable across a wide range of environmental conditions. These differences may partly reflect high litter sizes for wild boar, which carries high energetic costs. High hunting mortality may induce a high investment of females in reproduction early in life, at the detriment to survival. Despite high hunting mortality, the study population increased. Effective population control of wild boar should target a high harvest rate of piglets and reproductive females.
Summary1. Demographic tactics within animal populations are shaped by selective pressures. Exploitation exerts additional pressures so that differing demographic tactics might be expected among populations with differences in levels of exploitation. Yet little has been done so far to assess the possible consequences of exploitation on the demographic tactics of mammals, even though such information could influence the choice of effective management strategies.2. Compared with similar-sized ungulate species, wild boar Sus scrofa has high reproductive capabilities, which complicates population management. Using a perturbation analysis, we investigated how population growth rates (λ) and critical life-history stages differed between two wild boar populations monitored for several years, one of which was heavily harvested and the other lightly harvested.3. Asymptotic λ was 1·242 in the lightly hunted population and 1·115 in the heavily hunted population, while the ratio between the elasticity of adult survival and juvenile survival was 2·63 and 1·27, respectively. A comparative analysis including 21 other ungulate species showed that the elasticity ratio in the heavily hunted population was the lowest ever observed.4. Compared with expected generation times of similar-sized ungulates (more than 6 years), wild boar has a fast life-history speed, especially when facing high hunting pressure. This is well illustrated by our results, where generation times were 3·6 years in the lightly hunted population and only 2·3 years in the heavily hunted population. High human-induced mortality combined with non-limiting food resources accounted for the accelerated life history of the hunted population because of earlier reproduction.5. Synthesis and applications. For wild boar, we show that when a population is facing a high hunting pressure, increasing the mortality in only one age-class (e.g. adults or juveniles) may not allow managers to limit population growth. We suggest that simulations of management strategies based on context-specific demographic models are useful for selecting interventions for population control. This type of approach allows the assessment of population response to exploitation by considering a range of plausible scenarios, improving the chance of selecting appropriate management actions.
The wild boar is a large ungulate which may produce serious economic problems. As the wild boar is highly reproductive, a fast dispersing species and flexible in behavior, management has to be adapted to the adaptive wild boar populations. On the other hand, the wild boar lives small scaled in family-groups, which enables management concepts on regional scale. Female wild boar of all age classes should be hunted in favour by comprehensive hunting methods for wild boar population regulation.
Wild boar hunting bags are on a very high level in Germany and all over Europe; populations are still increasing and dispersing into agrarian and urban landscapes. For ecological and economic reasons
a sound hunting management is indispensable to regulate or even reduce wild boar populations.
Important topics for a regulative hunting management of wild boar besides others are knowledge of wild boar biology, hunting management, as well as willingness and possibilities of hunters ("human dimension"). Thus, surveys are conducted in Lower Saxony on distribution, detailed hunting statistics as well as the spectrum of opinion of the hunters.
Wild boar have a wide distribution range and are present nearly everywhere. Only in 17% of hunting grounds wild boar do not occur. In more than 50% of the area wild boar is a common species. 65% of wild boar are shot on single hunts. During the last fi ve years the proportion of wild boar shot on drive hunts has increased by 10%. The proportions of hunting methods within hunting statistics are differing regionally.
Most hunters think a reduction in Lower Saxony is necessary; however, many of those do not think it is necessary in their own region. In regions with low wild boar densities 50% of hunters did
not answer the questions, possibly showing a lack of knowledge or opinion. Comprehensive hunting is expected to be most productive for regulation; other methods are rather unpopular.
Wild boar populations are still increasing and dispersing.
Hunting management has to be highly efficient for regulation, thus cooperation has to be improved. Hunters are aware of these problems; however, they do not implement this knowledge due to several reasons, which will have to be investigated in future research.
Regional conditions, as well as hunters’ willingness and possibilities have to be incorporated into wild boar management concepts.
Hunting bag statistics today do not suffice for the description of small game populations and their population dynamics. The spatially complete estimation of small game populations through hunters in combination with verification supplies reliable data which, however, cannot replace detailed population ecological investigations. Reference districts within a monitoring system permit the collection of exact and reproducible data for population ecological research, the representation of which can be critically regarded in respect to questions concerning hunting and environmental protection. The advantages and disadvantages of both registration systems should be comparably judged in consideration of the respective goals. The necessity of a standardization of registration systems for Germany is out of the question.
Within the framework of a wild animal survey begun in 1991 continuous area covering population data for various wild animal species as well as data on hunting and management measures were recorded for Lower Saxony. On the basis of data from 7000 hunting districts totaling ca 83% of the hunting areas of Lower Saxony the populations of European hares in spring were compared to the hunting bag from the years 1994-1998. The average spring populations of European hares in Lower Saxony increased minimally from 10.6 hares/sq. km hunting area (1995) to 12.7 hares/sq. km (1999). The regional distribution of population density shows a distinct north-west/south-east gradient, and extends from 17.6 hares/sq. km in the nature region of Ostfriesisch-Oldenburgische Geest to 6.0 hares/sq. km (1999) for the Harz and foothills. The county of Wesermarsch recorded the greatest abundancies with 24.8-27.6 hares/sq. km during the years 1995-1999. The lowest counts were registered for the southern counties of the Weser-Leine-Bergland, in the Harz as well as in the Lüneburger Heide with 5-8 hares/sq. km. The hunting activity (proportion of hunting districts permitting hare hunting) in Lower Saxony increased during the hunting seasons 1994/95 to 1996/97 from 54% to 62.5% and decreased again in 1997/98 to 57.6%. In the diree northern and western natural areas of the Geest the proportion of districts hunted in varied between 76.7% and 87.8% for the seasons 1994/95 to 1997/98. Distinctly lower hunting activity were recorded in the eastern and southern areas. In the nature region of Börde the hunting activity for the 4 years varied between 40% and 52.5%, in the nature region of Lüneburger Heide, Weser-Leine-Bergland and in the Harz between 18.4% and 44.2%. Hence, about 2/3 of the hunting districts in southern and eastern of Lower Saxony do without hare hunting. The hunting activities for the years 1994-1998 did not correlate with the population development. In contrast the dependence of regional hare populations on regional hunting activities is significant. The renunciation of hunting in the southern and eastern counties with drastically reduced hare populations can be positively evaluated. The extreme local and regional differences in abundance as well as the variation in hunting activities require a differentiated approach in the discussion of hunting limits. An encompassing monitoring of wild animals should be supported in order to promote objectivity in the often emotionally heated discussions of population density and hunting of hares and other small game species.
Understanding the influence of harvest regulations on wildlife populations is crucial for successful population management and species conservation. This is true of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), a species of great conservation concern in western North America that is a candidate for protection under the United States Endangered Species Act and is hunted in nine states within the United States. Recent recommendations have proposed shifting hunting seasons to later in the year, with a goal of reducing harvest of adult female and juvenile sage-grouse. Foundational principles of harvest theory, however, suggest that such changes to harvest timing could have unintentional and adverse effects on greater sage-grouse populations. I used published estimates of seasonal survival to reconstruct weekly mortality curves for adult female and juvenile greater sage-grouse in Nevada, USA. Under a hypothesis of compensatory mortality, I then calculated the maximum harvest occurring during any 1-week interval that could be compensated by non-harvest mortality that occurs after the hunting season. This value universally declines as harvest is held later in the season. Under a hypothesis of additive mortality, I calculated the realized reductions in both survival and subsequent reproductive success that would be expected for a given level of harvest. Both of these values increase if harvest is conducted later in the season, resulting in a larger additive effect than if harvest had occurred earlier. If reduced mortality of specific age or sex classes is desired, I suggest managers employ reduced bag limits, shortened season lengths, or permit systems to meet this objective. Holding hunting seasons later in the year than is presently custom (i.e., beginning sometime during Sep) should be avoided unless specific information exists to predict the change in harvest rate that would occur following changes to harvest timing. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.
Recolonising native mammals have the potential to cause environmental and agricultural damage. However, if their future distribution can be predicted, effective control measures can be scheduled beforehand to prevent the onset of damage. In this study, we predicted the future range expansion of recolonising wild boar Sus scrofa populations in the Chiba Prefecture, Japan, using simulations. Wild boars were extinct in the Chiba Prefecture until the 1970s, but since then, a new naturalised population has spread, probably due to release for hunting. Recently a small, isolated, naturalised population was found in the northern part of the prefecture, which was considered to be a new release. We divided the Chiba Prefecture (5,156 km(2)) into 3-km grids and, based on nuisance control records, we examined the 'presence' of wild boar populations from 2002 to 2007 and in 2010. We simultaneously estimated habitat suitability and dispersal probability of the source population via range-expasion modelling. We predicted the future distribution by the use of stochastic simulations for 20 years after 2010. According to the simulations, the wild boar populations will expand into the southern and northern regions of the Chiba Prefecture at a rate of 2,153 km/year, and crop damage should be expected in these areas in the future. Range expansion into the northern region of the prefecture will be completed by around 2025. If the northern isolated population is removed, it will be possible to delay the range expansion for about five years. The eradication of a small isolated population in the northern Chiba Prefecture may have significant economic benefits because the crop production in this area is relatively large.
Similarly to other European countries, the wild boar (Sus scrofa) numbers in Estonia have made a rapid increase during recent decades. However, Estonia is near the northern boundary of the wild boar range and the population living in the area is significantly affected by winter climate. Therefore, it is likely that the increase in numbers is largely a result of common management practice - the extensive supplementary feeding of wild boars by hunters especially during winters and avoidance of hunting of adult females. As the increasing population density has been accompanied by growing conflicts between hunters, farmers, landowners and wildlife conservationists these management principles are now under dispute. Here we present data of analysis of reproductive tracts (uteri and ovaries) of wild boar sows carried out in winter 2010, indicating a high participation rate of sub-adults and also juveniles in reproduction. We also give a brief overview of the development, current status and hunting regulations of wild boar in Estonia.
The population dynamics of wild ungulates, particularly wild boar (Sus scrofa), are modulated by biotic (e.g. predation) and abiotic (environmental) determinants. Despite the evident potential interference of predation in the environmental patterns of wild boar population abundance, studies including both predation and abiotic factors are scarce. Here, using spatially explicit predictive models, we investigated the effects of habitat features on the relative abundance of wild boar populations and how the abundance of boars is related to frequency of Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus; hereafter, wolf) in the area. Wild boar relative abundance was determined by hunting bag statistics, including hunting effort-related variables (in order to avoid problems derived from modeling rates) as covariates, while wolf attacks to livestock were considered as a proxy of wolf frequency in the drive. After modeling, variation partitioning procedures were used to determine the relative importance of each factor and their overlaid effects. Our results showed that wild boar and wolf relative abundances are associated. According to previous knowledge on the wild boar ecology, we found that the species abundance is positively related to the percentage of surface occupied by mature forest and heather providing high food diversity and refuge, but these environmental variables achieved a low explanatory capacity in the models in relation to wolf frequency. The holistic approach followed in this study was attended to open new perspectives for thinking on the wolf-livestock conflict and to adequate wild boar management strategies taking into account hunting interests and natural processes.
Wild boar hunting bags are on a very high level in Germany and all over Europe; populations are still increasing and dispersing into agrarian landscapes. For ecological and economic reasons a sound hunting management is indispensable to regulate or even reduce wild boar populations. Important topics for a regulative hunting management of wild boar besides others are knowledge of wild boar biology, hunting management, as well as willingness and possibilities of hunters ("human dimension"). Thus, surveys are conducted in Lower Saxony (LS) on distribution, detailed hunting statistics as well as the spectrum of opinion of the hunters.
Within the last 50 years wild boar population was spreading from forested areas all over LS, thus, it is nearly area-wide distributed. Only in 17% of hunting grounds wild boar do not occur. In more than 50% of the area wild boar is a common species. 65% of wild boar are shot on single hunt. Hunting at bait is the most common hunting method in LS. Unless other methods are not promoted this hunting method is still indispensable. During the last five years the proportion of wild boar shot on drive hunts has increased by 10%. The proportions of hunting methods within hunting statistics are differing regionally due to different possibilities, landscape structures, needs, and opinions. A high proportion of hunters did not answer the questions on opinion and willingness, possibly showing a lack of knowledge or opinion. Most hunters think a reduction in LS is necessary; however, many of those do not think it is necessary in their own region. Shooting piglets at an age earlier than 4 months is unpopular, although an early start of reducing the offspring would be needed for regulation and for avoiding crop damages by banishing wild boar. Of those who answered 40% think that they were not able to regulate wild boar populations. Most of those who believed in “regulation” shot less than actually needed.
Comprehensive hunting is expected to be most productive for regulation, non-hunting methods are really unpopular. Drive hunts are not conducted as often as needed due to a high effort and a fear of disturbing other species, as red deer.
Due to hunters’ opinion, the hunting bags are not increasing in their own hunting ground. It seems to be “somebody else´s problem”. Thus they do not see a necessity for reduction as it is “only” a common problem. It is to state that wild boar populations are still increasing and dispersing. Hunting management has to be highly efficient for regulation, thus cooperation has to be augmented. Hunters are aware of these problems; however, do not implement this knowledge due to several reasons, which will have to be investigated in future. Some first results show, that hunters are afraid of reducing wild boar as hunting might get less attractive. Sustainability seems to be one of the biggest purposes of hunters, thus they do not dare reducing.
Regional conditions, as well as hunters’ willingness and possibilities have to be incorporated into management concepts.
Wild boar hunting bags are on a very high level in Germany and all over Europe. Wild boar populations are dispersing into agrarian landscapes. For ecological and economic reasons a sound hunting management is indispensable to regulate or even reduce wild boar populations. It is known, that wild boar mortality is less than reproduction.
Important points with the regulative hunting of the black game are among other things in particular wills and possibilities of the hunters (so-called "human dimension"). Thus, surveys are conducted on detailed hunting statistics as well as the opinion picture of the hunters.
Wild boar spread nearly all over Lower Saxony (as well as all over Germany)
In 17% of hunting ground no occurrence, within 32 % only rare commuting species, in 27% resident species and common commuters.
Hunting methods: single hunt, drive hunts
Less forested areas have higher proportions of single hunt, casually hunted wild boar. In forested areas drive hunts are more common.
Most hunters hold a reduction in Lower Saxony for necessary, but clearly less in her own care ring. In particular in the districts in which black game seems merely as a change game the hunters have moreover often no opinion, in these districts the questions have answered only something more than 50%. In districts with black game as a state game the opinion is clearly more distinctive, more than 70% of the participant districts the questions have answered.
There remains of course doubtful whether the lower participation in the survey is to be founded in the change game districts with unawareness or in unwish.
The hunters avoid rather of the untimely Erlegung of touched young wild boars than before the Erlegung of several years' wild sows (fig. 1, below). More hunters still hold a stronger young wild boar hunting than promising for a continuance reduction (fig. 2). Most hunters reject decoy restrictions as well as unpopular methods like young wild boar catches, night sights and "contraceptives". Increases district-covering movement hunts many district owners hold for promising. Besides, this hunting form offers the advantage to be less time consuming as the single hunt, besides, the cooperation of the hunters is promoted. Also the intensified Einzelansitz are looked as promising. Other hunting forms (Erlegung of nachrangiger wild sows, increased young wild boar hunting, increased district-internal Drückjagden) are similarly "liked". Only few district owners consider a stronger integration of Jung's hunters.
An other expansion and more frequent realisation of movement hunts could increase the young wild boar portion in the distance and therefore the whole distance clearly. In particular district-covering hunting is absolutely necessary on account of the movement patterns and the learning ability of the black game and would have to be increased in the ranges poor in wood clearly. In these regions this hunting form often offers the only possibility to carry out exhaustive actual movement hunts. Above all in the areas in which black game appears as "a new" wild kind trainings seem to be necessary to biology and hunting of the black game, because here the questions remained most often unanswered. The relatively steady "popularity" of the different hunting forms for the continuance reduction concludes by the fact that individual and regional "predilections" must be trained in future hunting draughts. Comprehensive events of information and training events in all land parts could promote the readiness to an increased hunting and the exchange of views between the regions. In future other surveys should take place to opinion picture and regional hunting possibilities
Populations of wild boar (Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758) and reports of crop damage by them have increased in Japan. In considering strategies for damage control, it is necessary to quantify both the environmental factors and the countermeasures affecting damage. We surveyed damage by wild boar in 1540 rice paddies on the Boso Peninsula. We obtained environmental factors by GIS: distance from forest edges, rivers and settlements; overground openness; and human population density. We recorded the weeding and fencing practices as countermeasures. We constructed cumulative logit models using Bayesian inference to predict damage and assessed the importance of the simultaneous evaluation of environmental factors and countermeasures by deviance information criteria. The best model incorporated both environmental factors and countermeasures, indicating that both are important for predicting damage. It showed that weeding around rice paddies, electric fencing and corrugated iron fencing were effective at reducing damage by wild boar. The risk of damage increased with lower values of distance from forest edges and rivers, overground openness, and human population density, and with higher values of distance from roads. These environmental factors allowed us to identify high-risk cropland where countermeasures could be introduced to reduce damage.
Streckenstatistiken sind für die Beschreibung der Niederwildpopulationen und deren Populationsdynamik heute nicht mehr ausreichend. Die flächendeckende Einschätzung der Niederwildbesätze durch die Jäger in Verbindung mit Verifikationen liefert verlässliche Daten, die jedoch populationsökologische Detailuntersuchungen nicht ersetzen können. Referenzreviere in einem Monitoringsystem erlauben exakte und reproduzierbare Daten für die populationsökologische Forschung, deren Repräsentativität im Hinblick auf jagd- und naturschutzrelevante Fragestellungen kritisch zu betrachten ist. Die Vor- und Nachteile beider Erfassungssysteme sind unter Berücksichtigung der entsprechenden Zielsetzungen gegeneinander abzuwägen.
Wildlife-related accidents are a serious problem in different countries and describing their temporal pattern allows for the development of measures to mitigate them. We described the temporal pattern of wild ungulate-related accidents occurring between January 2006 and December 2010 in the Autonomous Region of Galicia, northwest of Spain. We examined the temporal distribution of the accidents according to months, phenological and hunting seasons, days of the week and time of the day. From the 6,255 wild ungulate-related traffic accidents analysed, 36.5% were related to roe deer Capreolus capreolus and 62.8% were related to wild boar Sus scrofa. The monthly distribution of accidents was not random but follows a characteristic pattern for each species. Roe deer-related accidents have their maximum in April and May, coinciding with the breeding season, followed by July, coinciding with the rut. Wild boar-related accidents have their maximum between October and January, coinciding with the hunting season but also with months with the longest nights. Both roe deer- and wild boar-related accidents showed an increase at weekends, specially on Sundays. During the hunting season, the wild boar-related accidents showed a marked peak on the same day. This weekly pattern was explained by drivers’ behaviour and by hunting. For roe deer, peaks of accidents occurred between 19:00 and 22:00 (about dusk) and between 05:00 and 08:00 (about dawn). For wild boar, 69% of accidents occurred between 18:00 and 23:00, coinciding with dusk and night. This daily pattern of accidents was explained by the behaviour of the species.
Japanese hunter numbers have been declining from a peak of 532,265 in 1970 to 166,386 in 2005. We analyzed demographic changes in hunter numbers from 1965 to 2005 using data from all 47 Prefectures. Most hunters were licensed for guns in 1965, but hunter numbers have declined in every Prefecture after 1975. The number of hunters who were licensed to trap increased in most Prefectures after 1985. A Hunter Recruitment Index (HRI) of younger age classes was positive in most Prefectures between 1965 and 1975. HRI of all age classes was negative in most Prefectures during the1980s, but those of older age classes mostly turned positive drastically after 1995. Trends in the number of gun hunters and recruitment of younger hunters affected hunter population dynamics until the 1980s. The increase in the number of those who desire to catch nuisance animals using a trap would have affected it since 1990.
Background:
There was an unchecked increase in wild boar population and in the damaged crops in Poland in 2010, and the amount of compensation reached €12.4 million. The objective of the present study was to establish the factors affecting boar-related damage and to verify the effectiveness of protective strips used again wild boar pressure upon fields.
Results:
Damage was positively correlated with the wild boar population density, the farmland-forest ecotone index, the proportion of deciduous stands, the Simpson index for dominant tree species and the age class of forest stands. The relationship between level of damage and feeding strips was not significant. Stepwise regression explains 55.6% of the variability of a given feature affected by the wild boar density, the forest-field ecotone index and the Simpson index for the age structure of the forest. During 5 years, the compensation for damage caused by boar amounted to €34.2 million, whereas the revenue from carcasses sold amounted to €9.5 million.
Conclusions:
Protective strips do not reduce the damage to crops, and so the offer of high-protein food on these strips, which increases reproduction rates among wild boar, should be discontinued. Reduction in the level of damage can only be achieved by a radical reduction in numbers of wild boar.