Wild boars increasingly venturing into urban areas, drawn by food and safety
Wild boars are increasingly moving into urban areas across the Czech Republic. Once largely confined to forests, they are now appearing in city parks, gardens and residential neighbourhoods,scavenging for food.
Reports of sightings of wild boar in urban areas, including the suburbs of big cities such as Prague and Brno, have been on the rise in recent years, as has pressure on local municipalities to deal with the problem.
Miloš Ježek of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague says this migration is a problem that is accelerating across Europe due to a combination of several factors.
"One factor is the relatively easy access to food they can find in cities, specifically in parks, gardens, abandoned areas and similar places. At the same time, they feel relatively safe in urban environments because wild boars are generally not hunted there.
“Greater hunting pressure around cities may actually encourage wild boars to move in among people. They are very good at distinguishing between people who hunt them and those who do not. They can also tell which places have been hunted in recent years.
“There is strong pressure to reduce wild boar numbers because of the damage they cause. Numerous studies, not only on wild boars, have shown that animals respond to hunting pressure. They adapt both to pressure from humans and, for example, to pressure from natural predators" he says.
According to Ježek, intensive hunting around urban areas may even encourage boars to move closer to people. Food and shelter remain the animals' main priorities. Compost heaps containing fruit and vegetable scraps, rubbish around waste bins and other food waste attract them into residential areas. In one documented case, a sow with piglets learned to knock over a bio-waste container to reach its contents.
Cities have adopted different methods to deal with the problem. While culling is difficult in populated areas, some municipalities trap the animals or use so-called “scent fences”, which are treated with animal repellents to discourage boars from entering specific locations. The method is safe for people, including children, but the repellent must be renewed roughly every three months.
Ježek says prevention should focus on making urban areas less attractive for this breed and provide fewer hiding places.
"We should minimise places where wild boars can find shelter, such as dense shrubs, woodland or overgrown parks. These areas should be maintained so they remain open and visible, making boars feel less secure."
Researchers stress that the spread of wild boars into cities is a natural trend and there is no reason to be unduly concerned. The animals generally avoid people and prefer to flee rather than attack. The greatest risk arises when unleashed dogs confront a sow protecting her piglets, so owners are advised to keep dogs on a leash.
"The most common reason for an attack is the protection of young, or when a wild boar finds itself trapped and unable to escape, which happens more often in urban environments. In those situations it may charge, but such attacks are genuinely rare," Ježek says.
Although attacks are more common in cities than in forests or open countryside, animal experts say they can usually be avoided by keeping a safe distance, allowing the animal an escape route and resisting the temptation to approach or follow wildlife.
