Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
Boars invading the city Are archers a solution?
Credit: Vladislav/Neil Podoll – Shutterstock
In a recent release, PACMA – the Spanish animal rights group – expressed their total rejection and indignation over the proposal made by Marbella’s council to contract archers for the culling of wild boars.
According to the group, it is a ‘cruel, ineffective, and dangerous’ method of dealing with the wild animals that are beginning to leave their natural environment and invade the city streets and roadways. They also state that there are ‘ethical and sustainable’ methods to manage the presence of these animals. PACMA also warns that the method of culling the animals is counterproductive in that, as the wild pigs are pack animals, by killing members of their group, they increase the fertile productivity of the pack (or ‘sounder’ of boars), because of their nature and try to replace lost members of the group.
PACMA, Animal rights group, recommends vaccine
Instead of resorting to violence, the coordinator of PACMA in the province of Malaga, Carmen Sánchez, recommends the use of the Gonacon vaccine, which reduces the fertility of the creatures. The majority of boars spotted in urban areas of the Costa del Sol are a mix breed of wild boars with farm pigs. This new creature has a higher reproductive capacity. The boar sow has a tendency to have four babies. However, the new breed may have as many as 12 puppies.
The group insists on the council of Marbella installing water troughs far from the city limits to encourage pigs to stay outside the neighbourhoods.
SCAES is the company that was contracted to control the number of boars in urban areas, where firearms are illegal and they’re considered a threat to people and pets. The actual number of boars culled by SCAES is extremely low. It may be as little as 2 or 3 per annum, since they only choose the dominant males of each group. SCAES in particular was set up initially to control the number of animals that pose a risk to motorway traffic.
The fact that boars are becoming more common in urban areas is a point of agreement between all sides. Precisely ‘what’ needs to be done is the main sticking point.
