Portugal to Pay Javali Hunters to Help Curb Exploding Population

Javali (wild boar) is a sociable and non-territorial animal. It has poor eyesight but a sharp sense of hearing, capturing sounds imperceptible to humans. Its most developed sense is of smell, according to Portugal Hunting. Please do not feed it.

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In the continuing effort to curb the prolific javali, the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture and Sea plans to pay 50 euros for each male and 70 euros for each female killed beyond the average recorded in recent years, increasing the cull of damaging wild boar by 10 percent, reported SAPO (September 14).

The funds will be allocated to hunting clubs in 60 designated municipalities out of the 308 in the country, according to SIC Notícias (September 12).

The government also is preparing more changes to the hunting law, which will include shortening the distances to villages and industrial areas, allowing for greater intervention in locations where the wild boar approach populated areas.

"We have too many javali," the Minister of Agriculture and Sea, José Manuel Fernandes, told News from Sorraia, during a visit to Coruche Municipality, in Santarém District, according to SAPO.

The landmark Wild Boar Strategic and Action Plan, initiated by the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) and prepared by experts at the University of Aveiro, equipped the government with facts about the situation.

After the release of the report in May 2023, the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) published legal notices of changes to the hunting rules, which had restricted hunting to be carried out only inside the full-moon period, ICNF vice president, Paulo Salsa, told Expresso (July 11, 2023).

The Wild Boar Strategic and Action Plan suggested that hunting should be the “privileged tool” to control the population, pointed out Carlos Fonseca, one of the study’s authors. Over the next five to 10 years, the rate of boar kills should increase by 20 to 30 percent compared to the current 10 percent, reported Expresso.

The latest national government action is in keeping with the report's recommendation. Some municipalities, such as Abrantes, reported Tomar na Rede (October 8, 2023) and Mação, according to SIC Notícias (September 12) also have called for a need for action.

Crop Damage, Road Accidents

Javali cause millions of euros in damage to agricultural holdings; they pose increased risks to road safety, and there is concern about the possibility of swine fever.

Losses in corn crops amounted to 8 million euros in 2025, reported SIC Notícias (September 12). The same figure was put forward in 2022, perhaps as a result of many small and medium farmers foregoing replanting, reported Agroportal (July 21, 2023). Farmers want compensation, but they have been frustrated by government and hunting associations shirking any responsibility.

"Small farmers with vegetable gardens and backyards near villages often don't even complain anymore," according to SIC Notícias (September 12).

The number of road accidents involving javali has been increasing year after year, already exceeding 1,000 collisions annually in some regions, such as Coimbra and Viseu, being more critical, said the co-author of the javali strategic plan, Carlos Fonseca, who was also coordinator of the first seminar of Impact -- towards mitigating the impacts of wild ungulates in Portugal, in Lousã, according to SIC Notícias (August 8).

In 2019, the GNR had recorded 364 road accidents involving javali and a rise to 985 in 2022, reported Expresso (July 11, 2023).

Concern About Possible Swine Fever

Along with the increase of wild boars and expansion of their territory, there is concern about swine fever in Europe, which has been “expanding westwards”, said Carlos Fonseca, the study’s co-author.

“The probability of this disease reaching wild boar populations in Portugal is considerable, which means that we have to take precautions against a disease that can cause damage, not only from an ecological and environmental point of view, but also economically, since it is directly transmissible to pigs, with disastrous economic consequences.”

For the first time, at the 13th International Symposium of Wild Boars and Other Suids in Barcelona last year, there was consensus that wild boars need to be contained on the continent, reported National Geographic (November 9, 2022).

“People are not worried; they are terrorized by swine fever,” said Barbara Franzetti, coordinator of the wild boar program at the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano, a protected area just outside of Rome, and a biologist at the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) in Rome.

African swine fever (ASF), different from swine flu, is a highly contagious viral infection that can affect domestic and wild pigs, according to Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), Germany’s largest nature conservation nongovernmental organization. The mortality rate can reach 100 percent.

It is not a danger to human health, but it has devastating effects on pig populations and the farming economy, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health.

Not Just a Portuguese Problem

Distribution across Portugal is “generalized”, including coastal and urban areas, but the regions of Trás-os-Montes, Beira Interior and Alentejo register a greater density, reported Expresso (August 24, 2022).

“(The wild boar populations) are essentially out of control in places where it was unthinkable 20 years ago, when there were only a few,” said Jacinto Amaro, president of Fencaça (Portuguese Hunting Federation).

The increase is in line with what happened in most European countries.

“It is not a national phenomenon. It is international,” explained the biologist, Carlos Fonseca.

Portugal, along with Italy, Spain, other countries in Europe and elsewhere, have seen a significant rise in the number of wild boars in rural areas as well as an increase of the herbivores snuffling their way into villages, towns and cities, looking for food.

In urban environments, the situation in Portugal is far from the serious problems experienced in large European metropolises, such as Barcelona, Berlin or Rome, reported Expresso (August 24, 2022).

However, Carlos Fonseca, of CoLAB ForestWISE/University of Aveiro, said that urban populations of wild boars are beginning to appear and “get used to “the artificial food availability”, creating difficulties in managing the problem.

To avoid maximizing the problem, it is essential that people do not feed the animals and that they alert local authorities, according to Expresso. The Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) asked people to avoid direct contact with the animals.

Different countries are following different control strategies or a combination of them, including indiscriminate killing by shooting, gas and lethal injection; selective killing of reproductive females; trapping and transport to safe, rural habitats; erecting metal and electric fences; setting up wading pools at city borders, and installing boar-proof trash cans.

Population

What has caused the increase of wild boars?

The Minister of Agriculture and Sea, José Manuel Fernandes, highlighted a decrease in the number of hunters, according to SAPO (September 14).

There are also other factors.

“Some abandonment of the rural world”, reproduction of the species, which is “very prolific” (typically, a litter of 2 to 7 per year but sometimes two litters), and a lack of natural predators, such as wolves and lynxes, are a few of the reasons, according to Expresso (August 24, 2022).

The javali population is estimated at 300,000 to 400,000, reported SIC Notícias (September 12).

There was an “overabundant” population of about 300,000 wild boars in Portugal, according to the Wild Boar Strategic and Action Plan, reported Expresso (July 11, 2023). There were no earlier estimates with which to make a comparison, but farmers, hunters and experts agree that there has been a big increase and that there are too many.

The wild boar plan confirmed the perceptions. With the numbers in hand, experts said that they are in a better position to study the situation and take action.

Non-territorial

The adult wild boar is about 120 centimeters (47.2 inches) in length with a tail length of 22 centimeters (8.7 inches). Its height is about 65 centimeters (25.6 inches). The female averages 40 kilograms (88.2 pounds) to 65 kilograms (143.3 pounds) and the male 70 kilograms (154.3 pounds) to 90 kilograms (198.4 pounds). Both can weigh as much as 150 kilograms (330.7 pounds), according to Portugal Hunting.

Its hair is thick and black, 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) to 13 centimeters (5.1 inches) long. On the spine, the manes can reach 16 centimeters (6.3 inches). When faced with danger, it raises its spine manes, becoming larger in front of enemies. The color of its coat ranges from black to gray or even reddish. Boar piglets are born with dark stripes, which disappear in a few months.

The wild boar is a sociable and non-territorial animal that moves in matriarchal groups of about three to five females with their offspring. The adult male lives alone.

The animal has poor eyesight but a sharp sense of hearing, capturing sounds imperceptible to humans. Its most developed sense is of smell. It can detect food and enemies from more than 100 meters (328 feet) away and, even, find foods that are buried underground, according to Portugal Hunting.

Normally, it is sedentary during the day but, at night, it can travel long distances, almost always using the same routes, according to Portugal Hunting.

Its lifespan in the wild is 10 to 14 years.