Hunter shoots 100-kilogram wild boar in northern Lapland

A hunter shot a 100-kilogram wild boar in Help, a village in Kittilä near the Rovaniemi border, Yle reported. The animal was found well north of the Arctic Circle, where wild boar are not expected to occur.

According to the Natural Resources Institute Finland, the country’s previous northernmost wild boar sightings were in the Tornio region. The animal shot in Help was therefore more than 100 kilometres farther north.

Hunter Pertti Helppikangas said residents had reported seeing a wild boar in the village the previous evening, but he initially thought the reports might have been rumours or mistaken observations.

On Tuesday evening, Helppikangas spotted the animal and hunted it with his dog, Riki. Wild boar may be hunted legally throughout the year, although females accompanied by piglets are protected from March to July.

Wild boar are spreading north

The Natural Resources Institute Finland says wild boar are continuing to spread northwards as the climate changes. In Finland, the species is most common in southeastern Finland and eastern Uusimaa, while smaller concentrations are also found in western and southern parts of the country.

Elmo Miettinen, a researcher at the institute, said a wild boar this far north was rare but did not necessarily indicate a major change.

“The spread northwards is happening continuously, and it begins with individual cases. This is a continuation of a slow development,” Miettinen said.

Although wild boar are herd animals, young males often travel farther from other herds and can cover long distances, Miettinen said.

Miettinen considered the possibility that the animal carried African swine fever to be very unlikely. Helppikangas sent a sample to the Finnish Food Authority for testing, and the result was negative.

The boar was also unlikely to have escaped from a farm, according to information from a wild boar farm operating in the Kittilä region, which said that no animals had escaped.