engleski

Wild boar populations up, number of hunters down? A European perspective

Across Europe wild boar increased in the ‘60s-‘70s but stabilised in the ‘80s ; however, their impact grew steadily. As hunting is the main cause of mortality for wild boar, this review described wild boar and hunter population trends in Europe in the last three decades. Hunting statistics and numbers of hunters in 18 countries were used as indicators of wild boar numbers and hunting pressure in 1982-2012. The results showed that wild boar are increasing consistently throughout Europe whilst the number of hunters are relatively stable or even declining. We concluded that the generalised growth in number wild boar harvested is not related to increasing hunting and that wild boar numbers are indeed growing. As the main cause of wild boar mortality, hunting, is decreasing, more human-wild boar conflicts are expected unless this trend is reversed. The results suggested that recreational hunting is not enough to limit wild boar population growth. Other factors, such as mild winters, reforestation, intensification in crop production, supplementary feeding and compensatory population responses of wild boar to hunting pressure might also explain population growth. New interdisciplinary approaches are urgently required to mitigate human-wild boar conflicts that are otherwise destined to grow further.

growth rate; hunting pressure; mortality; population control; Sus scrofa

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