Netherlands: shooting of wild boars discussed
As the Dutch province of Gelderland is facing a wild boar plague, voices are getting louder for a temporal shooting permission for wildlife rangers.
Several different ways of shooting wild boars have been suggested by forestry organisations – and even agricultural minister Gerda Verburg is said to be in favour of shooting the animals, but the Dutch Parliament so far has resisted permission, mainly for animal welfare reasons.
Some political parties hope the situation can be changed by other ways than actually killing the boars.
Veluwe
It is claimed that approximately 6,000 wild boars inhabitate the woody Veluwe area, where biologists say only 800 wild boars should be living.
Camping site owners complain about their premises being rooted, farmers see their crops devastated and car-boar collisions on the major roads are reported daily.
The explosion in the number of wild boars is related to a mild 2006 winter, which made feed easily available to the animals.
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