Alex Trelinski
WILD boar numbers have increased dramatically in Spain, with an estimated 500% rise in Malaga province during the last decade.
Besides causing road accidents, boars bring complaints come from residents as well as farmers and golf course managers.
The animal live in forests, grasslands, wetlands, but have increasingly ventured onto beaches and into urban environments.
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Animal rights groups say this is because their natural habitats are being increasingly built and encroached upon on by developers and a growing number of tourists.
The boars have gained more confidence to mingle around urban areas as well as becoming more sophisticated in their diet.
They can consume fruits like oranges and destroy crops in their search for food.
Wild boars are classified as an invasive species that could spread diseases harmful to pigs like African swine fever.
There’s an estimated 22,000 wild boars in Malaga province and another problem is that they cross-breed with pigs with up 12 offspring being to create a hybrid species.
Not only are they aggressive, especially when travelling with their babies, but they can also carry diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis E, and influenza A.
Felix Gomez-Guillamon, from the Malaga provincial environment department said that it is difficult to get an accurate number of boars in the area.
“Because of their nocturnal habits and their movements, it is very complicated to get a definitive total,” he said
In the 2022-23 season between October and February, 7,490 boars were hunted and killed in the province- a fivefold rise in 15 years.
Based on a rough guide that a third of the boars are killed, that takes the Malaga number to over 22,000.
The national population is said to be around 1.5 million.
During the day they doze in the riverbeds and at night they usually go wandering.
In Malaga city alone, the boars have a presence in Ciudad Jardín, Cerrado, Limonar, Hacienda Paredes and Parque Clavero.
Archers based in trees are used to shoot boars and traps are deployed in some locations including use traps in various areas including Cortes de la Frontera, Sierra de las Nieves, and Marbella
