During the second week of September, ENETWILD participated in the 13th International Symposium on Wild Boar and other Suids organized by the members of the Scientific Committee of the IWBS 2022, held at the Montseny Biosphere Reserve, in Seva (Catalonia, Spain), in this symposium it was acknowledge that,
Wild boar is one of the most widespread and adaptable mammals in the world. This species is expanding in numbers and range, colonizing almost every type of habitats and regions, from the high mountain areas to lowlands and urban areas.
Wild boar can have significant positive and negative impacts on ecosystem functions and biodiversity. This species is involved in social and economic conflicts, such as increasing damage to crops, vehicle collisions, damage to infrastructures and damage in urban areas (including injuries to people), disease transmission and new risks such as the expansion of African swine fever (ASF). On the other hand, wild boar is providing several important ecosystem services and in many countries is a highly valued game species. New approaches to manage wild boar population and their impacts are therefore required.
Controlling wild boar population growth, and impacts, through sustainable, effective, and publicly supported methods, is one of the major challenges of wildlife management of the 21st century.
If no effective actions are taken wild boar populations and their impacts will continue to grow.
