Literally now in the spotlight as a vector of transmission of African swine fever (ASF), which reappeared in Spain thirty years after the detection of several positive cases in wild boars in Catalonia, the truth is that they are diverse … the voices that have long warned about the “excessive growth” of this mammal. “We have been warning about overpopulation for many years,” says the president of the Hunting Federation of Castilla y León, Santiago Iturmendiwho is not surprised that we are talking about ‘Sus scrofa’ figures which make many put their hands on their heads. In Spain it is estimated that there are around two million specimens, and in Castile and León there are around 250,000 after years of “general population increase” and with a presence in all nine provinces.
The numbers of specimens killed have continued to increase over the years and reflect this evolution. From nearly 15,000 notified during the 2004-2005 season to nearly 30,000 ten years later and 52,000 during the last closed season (2024-2025). Precisely, the catches, “multiplied by four to five”, constitute the basis of the “estimate” of the population, which is at “very high” levels, underlines the Director General of Natural Heritage of the Commission. Jose Angel Arranz.
Figures indicate that it has increased almost threefold in two decades. Around 250 percent more suicides in twenty years. This places the census “above the populations that would be ideal”, warns Arranz, even if the distribution is not uniform over a territory as vast and diverse as the more than 94,000 square kilometers over which the Community extends.
High densities which “affect conservation”, he also warns, in addition to pointing out the “problems” that they generate in terms of diseases – swine fever is not the only one to harbor and transmit to the herd -, accidents… An increase that “has lasted for decades”underlines the head of the Natural Environment, who reviews a set of factors for this increase: rural “abandonment” in which the forest gains territory or changes in agricultural activity which, at the same time which have led to the “decline” in small game hunting, have increased the populations of big game, with more wild boars and also roe deer, deer…
Also, he adds, a “less hunting pressure”even if the number of specimens killed increases thanks to this constantly increasing population. Thus, one of the objectives set by the Junta de Castilla y León is to “make an effort to recover this hunting activity” which “helps” control wildlife, even if for certain sectors “it is frowned upon”, explains Arranz.
“High densities also affect conservation”he emphasizes. And he regrets that the “demonization” of hunting activity “goes against” an increase in amateurs. “Hunting is poorly understood. It’s not against conservation. Quite the contrary,” underlines the Director General of Natural Heritage. “Hunters are necessary to maintain this ecological balance,” affirms this forest engineer.
The “challenge”, he emphasizes, is to “maintain hunting” and also to facilitate the reduction of the number of wild boars that roam Castile and León. Taking into account, he specifies, “it is difficult to give an overall figure” of specimens to be “eliminated”, because there are areas “with more load” and others which can admit more due to “lower densities”. But the truth, he says, is that current hunting numbers are “far” from the ideal.
To further this, approval was given to the declaration of “hunting emergency” for the entire Community – since last year this has been in force in Salamanca and Ávila due to the incidence of diseases in the cattle herd – with the aim of “facilitating” and stopping a possible progression of ASF, even if it is hundreds of kilometers away “and we hope that it will not appear”.
“We are quite worried”confesses Arranz, this is why measures are being taken to “reduce” the wild boar population and “avoid rapid expansion” and so that it is transmitted more quickly on the backs of suids. No limit on the number of huntable specimens, possibility of additional hunts, modalities, throughout the year with the exception of March and August, possibility of captures with traps and night glasses, exceptional authorizations in non-huntable areas… It is not in vain that between 2016 and 2021, reference years for the development of the Wild Boar Management Plan approved last year, the number of requests for control of the population of the special has increased by 30 percent, assuming one in four demand for non-hunting land.
For the moment, the decree seen on Thursday by the Governing Council, and published on Friday in Bocyl, envisages its application until January 2026. But, warns the Director General of Natural Heritage, “high densities are here to stay”population control “must therefore be a continuous effort.” “This hunting pressure must be maintained and continue over time,” he emphasizes.
The many drivers who pass them on the road know it: there are more and more wild boars.Last year they caused more than 3,400 road accidents in Castile and León, triple the number ten years ago.–. Also the farmers, who see how the passage of herds damages their crops and the hunters, for whom it is not difficult to see the animal, even if it is not always possible to hunt it, which is why they were already demanding “flexibility”. “In any stream, it kills… wild boars appear because they are numerous and the populations have changed their habits,” explains Iturmendi, who recalls that “before, they were very linked to the mountains”.
However, this “very opportunistic” animal, as Arranz defines it, He even approaches urban terrain in search of something to eat. and “it takes refuge” in “calmer areas rich in food” where “it is more difficult to control these populations”. With up to two births per year and litters of four to five “combs” of which more offspring now survive, they can live up to ten years. In a partridge reserve where they go and which doesn’t really have any trees, “it’s a rare day when we don’t collect wild boar”, illustrates Iturmendi.
“It would be a bit speculative” to give a target number, but it is clear that it must be “much higher than what we hunt”. And he agrees that “not because there are more animals, since the survival of the species is more guaranteed, since “overpopulations of animals generate diseases”, but, precisely, to “avoid” this excess. “It’s a natural way of regulating,” he emphasizes.
Thus, it calls for “higher views” when defining hunting management, and “not with fear of what the protectionist anti-hunting groups will say”. “From these models, we arrived at this situation,” declares the president of the Hunting Federation. “Nature must be controlled by human beings, with scientific criteria and not from extremist positions,” he says.
A species in “frantic expansion”as was already foreseen in the Management Plan even before the swine fever epidemic which triggered all the alerts in a community which is the third with the largest census of pigs in Spain, with more than 4.3 million heads. And on the Iberian podium, the one which is the most extensive and which presents the greatest risk of contact with wild boar. Salamanca is therefore a “worrying” province, both because of its almost 600,000 Iberian pigs and because it is the one that accumulates the most wild boar captures – a fifth of those in all of Castile and León -, which shows the high density of swine and the “health threat” they represent.
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