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Chapter

31

Wild Boar Management in Europe:

Knowledge and Practice

András Náhlik, Seán Cahill, Sandra Cellina, János Gál, Ferenc Jánoska, Carme Rosell,

Sophie Rossi, and Giovanna Massei

Introduction

Wild boar (Sus scrofa) is a widely distributed species native to
Eurasia that is expanding its range through the spontaneous
colonization of new areas, recolonization of former territories
it once inhabited, or through intentional and unintentional
introduction of the species by humans (Massei et  al. 2015).
It primarily inhabits temperate and tropical forests, but it
also inhabits semi-arid, taiga, and mountain areas from oce-
anic to continental climates as well (Spitz 1999; Powell 2004).
Its range in Europe covers almost the entire continent, with
high densities in areas with good-quality habitats. It has been
spreading north towards eastern Fennoscandia for more than
40 years (Erkinaro et al. 1982). Recently it has been expanding
its territory to the north-west, and it is expected to eventually
colonize the coastal territory of Norway (Rosvold & Andersen
2008). In the United Kingdom and Denmark, the species has
become re-established following farm escapes (Andersen &
Holthe 2010; Wilson 2014). The predicted distribution range
of wild boar on the basis of climatic suitability data estimated
for the present time covers the current distribution range fairly
well and is even able to predict the most likely areas for new
colonization such as Finland and Sweden (Vilaça et al. 2014)
(Figure 31.1).
With annual increases in population that may exceed
100 per cent, wild boar possess the highest reproductive rate
among ungulates (Bieber & Ruf 2005). An r-selection strategy
that includes a high reproductive rate makes it difficult to man-
age wild boar populations. However, as mentioned by Allendorf

et al. (2008), harvest regulations have the potential to cause the

loss of genetic variation in wild boar. Furthermore, a series of

other undesirable processes were reported as a consequence of

misguided harvesting such as altering the population structure

through selective hunts, enlarging the proportion of juveniles

that are capable of reproducing early (Gamelon et al. 2011), and

increasing the population density (Massei et al. 2015). In turn,

the latter has the potential to increase the disease risk (Gortázar

et al. 2006), to modify the ecosystem (Hobbs 1996), to gener-

ate conflict with human land-use areas leading to economic

damage (Cozzi et al. 2015), and to raise the number of animal–

vehicle collisions (Zuberogoitia et al. 2014). In addition to all of

this, the urbanization process of the species coincided fairly well

with the expanding populations both in distributional range

and in numbers (Cahill et al. 2012).

Population Trends and Influential Factors

in Europe

Wild boar population has increased steadily across Europe since

the beginning of the 1980s. This statement is supported by the

increasing trend of hunting bags paralleled by a simultaneous

growth in the number of vehicle collisions and agricultural dam-

age caused by wild boar. According to the review by Massei et al.

(2015), a minimum of 2.2 million wild boar were harvested across

the 18 investigated countries, compared to about 864,000 har-

vested in 1992. If the remaining countries that were not included

in this analysis were added, the total number of wild boar annu-

ally harvested in Europe would be in excess of three million.

Unsuitable

Suitable

Figure 31.1 Distribution range of wild

boar (Sus scrofa) in Europe, as predicted

on the basis of climatic suitability data

estimated for the present time (from

Vilaça et al. 2014).

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