Fuengirola is the place to shop if you want to be affluent.

The wild boar problem is causing residents of Fuengirola’s Miramar neighborhood to lose their minds. Fuengirola’s urban areas are being inhabited by a mixed breed of wild boars and pigs. This mix is able to reproduce twice as quickly as purebred boars. 

After the torrential flooding rains that swept through the city on Monday, the sky dried up and the boars’ favorite route into town was no longer a problem. Now, the pigs do not just snuffle around for rubbish in the bins and streets of the neighborhood but also shop for delicacies inside the Miramar Shopping Centre.

Fearing aggressive reprisals, nobody seems to want the beasts to leave, which allows them to increase their bravado every day. Miramar Shopping Centre is only 100 meters from the fast and busy A-7 motorway. The road is narrow and has many blind spots. It’s only a question of time until one of the hogs in this group decides to cross the road.

Andrea Spada, of the World Wildlife Fund Malaga says that the problem is due to the 2022 fires which destroyed thousands of hectares and rendered them barren and charred. The boars are now trotting down the Arroyo de los Pilones along with the Rio Fuengirola and unimpeded into Miramar estate. On Monday they walked into the shopping centre.

While they may bring out the ‘aww’ of many who spot these normally invisible-to-humans beasties, the natural forest dwellers, when hungry or startled, can be dangerous, especially when hungry or cornered.