After a series of attacks caused by wild pigs, authorities in many provinces in China were forced to deploy hunters to destroy these harmful animals.
Feral pigs are becoming a pest in many Chinese provinces. Image: Strait Times
Feral pigs have become a growing threat to Chinese cities, where they attack people and destroy property, prompting authorities to allocate funds and hunting teams to tackle the problem, according to China Daily.
On November 2, a woman in Chuzhou city in southeastern China was knocked down by a wild pig and suffered minor injuries while trying to protect her children. Before that, the animal chased two children playing outdoors, nearly hitting them, and continued to attack a resident driving a tractor. In the end, he was shot dead by the police.
A few days earlier, wild pigs also indirectly caused the death of a railway worker in Nanjing city. The train carrying workers crashed into wild pigs. When he got out of the train car to check, he was hit by another train moving on the adjacent track. On the same day, wild pigs also broke into a hotel lobby in the city but no one was injured. Nanjing police said they received 713 reports of feral pigs in 2023, up 19% from the previous year, bringing the total number of incidents in the past three years to 1,913, mostly traffic accidents or trouble. caused by wild pigs.
China is home to more than 2 million feral pigs. They have been recorded in 28 provinces, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration. In 26 of those provinces, they attacked humans or caused property damage. The problem is most serious in provinces such as Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Guangdong, according to researcher Jin Kun at the Chinese Academy of Forestry. According to Jin, the number of feral pigs is increasing rapidly due to the improving environment and lack of natural predators such as tigers and wolves.
“Wildlife habitat has improved in China due to environmental protection efforts and a series of protection measures. The strong reproductive and adaptive abilities of feral pigs also contribute to the growth their rapid numbers,” Jin said.
Jin said feral pigs are more likely to approach human habitats in the spring and fall, leading to a recent spike in encounters. Fall is crop harvest season and wild pigs often wander into cropland to eat rice, corn and fruit. Their main purpose when entering cities is to find food, but they can also seek to expand their habitat.
Last year, China relaxed restrictions on hunting wild pigs after removing them from the list of protected species. Since then, 14 provinces have organized hunter teams to control the number of pigs. Chinese law also allows the hunting of wild pigs for medicinal purposes, for skin or as pet food, but not for human consumption. Authorities have approved more than $8.5 million to control the pig population. More than 10,000 pigs have been hunted since January this year.
Local authorities also stepped in to solve the problem. The forestry department in Baoji city in Shaanxi province last month deployed two teams of hunters, killing 830 pigs. Also in October, the Gu Yuan district government in the Ningxia autonomous region licensed six teams to use technology such as drones, infrared cameras and navigation systems to kill feral pigs.