Malaga’s municipal politics has an unlikely hero: the wild boar. Or maybe it’s not so unexpected. As in Madrid, Barcelona, ​​​​Badalona or Ourense, among a long list of municipalities, including some of its neighbors such as Mijas, Malaga has seen how wild boars and feral pigs have become a real problem. There are concerns about the traffic accidents they may cause. Conflicts with neighbors are worrying. The environmental and health consequences of population growth are also worrying.

Therefore, recently the Malaga City Council opted for a desperate measure: it took out the bow to shoot animals with arrows. Now, after the controversy that accompanied this decision, it has decided to rethink its strategy. While he won’t give up arrows completely, he will try narcotic darts.

What happened? Malaga is back. Halfway through, yes. Just a few weeks after receiving the green light from the Andalusian Government to shoot wild boars and feral pigs with arrows, the City Council took a desperate measure by hiring a specialist company for almost 15,000 euros and decided to rethink its strategy. . It will not continue to use arcs and dates. At least temporarily. Instead he will opt for a more “ethical” solution: using narcotic darts that can numb the animals, which will then be euthanized painlessly under the supervision of veterinarians.

Trust…99%. But the change has a fine print. The City Council decided to change its strategy after criticism from animal associations and opposition groups such as PSOE or Con Málaga, even officially suspending the immediate suspension of wild boar hunting with bows. Narcotic darts will replace bows and arrows for euthanizing animals. Now, the measure will only be continued if it shows that it is truly effective. If that’s not the case, the City Council is already making progress on returning to the first, more traditional option regarding goaltenders.

The City Council made this detail clear. The Environmental Sustainability Council Member insists the effectiveness of the strategy needs to be checked before abandoning belts altogether. “If it didn’t work, we would go back to the method we originally planned,” they note. Opinion From City Hall. He requested permission from the Board to use darts for now. The new method will be implemented by the same company. “This is a problem to deal with. We have 99% of them.” [probabilidades] darts will work,” the councilor concludes.

“We have a problem”. The quotes once again come from Sustainability Mayor Penélope Gómez, who admits they are trying “alternative methods” instead of bows and arrows. Not without much success, of course. One option on the table was the use of vaccines that could sterilize wild boars. A team from the City Council even met with the staff of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. But this solution has some weaknesses: It will be temporary and only serve young women, so according to the councilor, “its effectiveness will be only 2%.”

Between debate and alternatives. Malaga is not the only city in Spain to hire archers to shoot wild boars and feral pigs, but the solution is controversial. Animal charities call it “very cruel” and “completely inhumane” and argue that it causes “extreme pain” to the animal, resulting in bleeding. In other parts of Spain, such as Malaga, there are governments that are now stepping back, relying on arrows.

Are there alternatives? The Andalusian Council argues that it has established several watering holes so that the animals can drink water and do not approach the urban area, while Vox conducts hunting activities and hunters can shoot wild boars in protected areas. A caged service allowing the capture of live specimens has been put out to tender in Mijas, which once also used archers to keep animals away. But its cost is much higher: 150,000 euros.

Is the problem that serious? What is undeniable is that the incursions of wild boars and feral pigs into residential areas of some municipalities are no longer an ordinary event. In Marbella they were spotted on a city beach, in Tarragona they crossed paths with tourists, in Barcelona they had to close the garbage bins in some neighborhoods to avoid being attacked by animals that even roam the city centre. . The same thing happened in Ourense.

Moreover, in recent weeks and months, they have been frequently seen in residential areas, without us having to return to the restrictions of the pandemic. Just yesterday, a family of wild boars was seen walking along the bed of the Guadalmenina river, which runs through the center of Malaga, and another species of pig, weighing about a hundred kilos, was shot dead in the Entrevías neighborhood of Madrid.

But… Are these a threat? Animalists argue that these are “peaceful” animals, have no aggressive behavior and only attack when they feel attacked. But there are also those who warn that they pose a “problem” and not just because of their behavior or the risk they may pose to traffic.

Malaga’s Mayor for Sustainability reminds us that wild pigs (cerdolíes), for example, are considered “invasive” exotic species and pose a risk as carriers of certain diseases. “These pose a real risk to the ecosystem,” states the Andalusian Government Country. In June, he expanded the declaration of a hunting emergency “to reduce overpopulation due to the damage and risks posed by wild boars and feral pigs,” highlighting the negative impact of these animals on the ecosystem or agriculture.

It’s a more complex problem. The truth is that the problem is complex. The greater presence of wild animals in densely populated areas can be explained in part by a number of factors that humans prefer: the transformation and depopulation of rural areas in recent years, the absence of predators, the construction of houses in areas where wild boars are found, the importance of containers in terms of a safe source of food or the abandonment of animals. how attractive it is.

Lately Southern Magazine He published that there are now as many as 22,000 wild boars in Malaga after seeing its population increase sevenfold. The board also acknowledges there has been a “significant increase” in wild boar hybrid pigs, in particular, and exotic breeds being abandoned by their owners. If between 2014 and 2015 3,600 were hunted, between 2022 and 2023 this figure was already close to 7,500. Country.

Images |Stein Arne Jensen (Flickr) 1 and 2 and Baker County Tourism Travel Baker County (Flickr)

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