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Boar nest

 

The boar has only a few weeks left of holding the title of ”Animal of the Year”. It will be taken over by another inhabitant of the Estonian forests. The boar loses the title of Animal of the Year, but the problems remain.

Due to the mild winters and senseless year-round feeding of boars by hunters the number of boars has exceeded the critical limit.

From the world at large numerous examples can be shown of how this changes the local flora and fauna. Things are moving towards such a situation in Estonia.

However, a characteristic of ecosystems is to repair and stabilize themselves. For nature, the  swine fever is a means of regaining a natural balance disturbed by man. Inevitably it brings along economic losses. These should be seen as ”divine punishment”, for foolish acts.

The measures undertaken to reduce the number of boar work on paper. For one shot animal three or more can be set up. Additional feeding is prohibited. Only food as bait for boars may be brought into the forests, in restricted amounts, to allow bait hunting. Presently home-made sitting ladders are emerging at feeding grounds. Nobody is hunting from them, nor could it be done. However, as a legally correct setup it is perfectly suited.

It is sad to see such enterprises undertaken by seemingly sensible and honourable citizens.

In areas that the swine fever has not yet reached it is said as before that it will not get here, it will disappear by itself.

Maybe it will too, but in some decades. The ball is in the hunters’ court now. The sooner they accept the fact that the number of boar in Estonia must be reduced by a number of times the better for both environment and human society. We must not forget the basic purpose of hunting – to sustain the natural balance. If someone begins to see wild boar as a means of personal profit then something is very wrong indeed somewhere.

We need a number for the basic size of the population of wild boar in Estonian forests. This number should be given by scientists – biologists, zoologists. So important problems must not be solved on an emotional level.

Boars have lived in our forests through ages. They will be here in the future too. Without them our natural landscape would be poorer.

The Estonian Veterinary and Food Board informs:

Each week African Swine Fever is diagnosed in 30 to 50 boars, shot or found dead; the largest weekly count has been 74 boars with proof of infection. As of today the Veterinary and Food Board has found proof of African Swine Fever in more than 1000 samples from boars. This means that the concentration of virus is high and the risk of the infection getting from forests into farms continues to be high.