Alajärvi launches hunt for lone wild boar

Alajärvi’s game management association has begun efforts to hunt down a young wild boar seen across the area, Yle reports. The aim is to prevent the animal from establishing a population and to help limit the possible spread of African swine fever.

Several sightings of the lone boar have been reported since last spring and during the summer. Pekka Hautamäki, operations manager at the Alajärvi game management association, said the animal has been spotted over a wide area.

“We are following the general recommendation and the guidance of the regional game council to keep the population under control. We are now trying to remove the animal from here,” Hautamäki said.

The sightings have so far been sporadic. Hautamäki said isolated wild boar groups had appeared in the area before, but they had been hunted down.

According to the Natural Resources Institute Finland, wild boar are most common in south-eastern Finland and eastern Uusimaa. Smaller concentrations also occur in western and southern Finland.

Alajärvi currently faces no swine fever threat

Wild boar that have strayed into the Alajärvi game management association’s area have always been hunted, and the young boar is expected to meet the same fate.

Hautamäki said wild boar reproduce easily, and Alajärvi wants to remain free of wild boar. He added that maintaining a gap between the eastern and western wild boar populations could help prevent a possible swine fever infection from spreading.

However, Hautamäki stressed that there is currently no visible risk of the disease spreading in the area. He has seen videos and trail-camera images of the boar and does not believe it is sick.

Suupohja population has resisted hunting

A settled wild boar population has formed in Suupohja, an area covering Isojoki, Karijoki, Kauhajoki and Kristinestad. The Natural Resources Institute estimates its density at between 0.5 and 1.5 wild boar per 1,000 hectares, although its exact size cannot be calculated.

The animals had time to establish themselves and reproduce in the area before hunting efforts began nearly 10 years ago.

“It is almost impossible to eradicate an established wild boar population,” said Jukka-Tapio Laine, operations manager at the Isojoki and Karijoki game management association.

Laine said hunting has been effective and the number of animals killed has increased each year. Sixty wild boar were killed last year, while 39 had been killed this year at the time of the report.

Despite increased hunting and higher numbers of animals killed, the population has not been significantly reduced. Its growth has been halted, Laine said, while more intensive hunting has pushed the wild boar to search for habitats across a wider area.

The Suupohja population has also caused damage to fields. Such agricultural damage is not compensated in the same way as damage caused by large predators such as wolverines, lynx, bears and wolves, and it is therefore not recorded in statistics.

The Natural Resources Institute considers hunting the most effective way to regulate the wild boar population. Without hunting, the annual growth potential of Finland’s wild boar population has been estimated at about 40 per cent.

Wild boar can be hunted throughout the year, but females accompanied by offspring under one year old are protected from March 1 to July 31.

In Suupohja, hunters have found that waiting at a location is the most effective method. Using dogs can be dangerous because, for example, a dog may not be able to escape a wild boar quickly enough in deep snow.