"Wild boars don't understand borders": mayors fight the plague separately

Barcelona"Wild boars don't understand borders." These are the words of an environmental technician from a municipality in the Baix Llobregat region, which perfectly summarize the problems local councils face in controlling wildlife. All of this has gained prominence in the wake of the crisis. due to the outbreak of African swine feverBut for months—and in some cases, years—metropolitan municipalities with nearby mountains have been rolling up their sleeves to keep these wild boars under control. The problem arises when, outside of natural parks, the option chosen by one municipality affects the situation of another: either because it opts for hunting, which causes the wild boars—very sensitive to noise—to move to another area, or because it does nothing to control them. It's a scenario that turns municipal management of wild boar control into a veritable arena for game theory. This dilemma occurs, for example, in Sant Climent and the villages surrounding Sant Ramon mountain. The village's hunting society regularly conducts wild boar hunts within the municipal boundaries, which are entirely a hunting area. However, the city council warns that these efforts are "insufficient if neighboring municipalities do not implement similar measures" or if hunting is restricted in nearby areas—as is the case in so-called safety zones. This is the case, for example, in Sant Boi de Llobregat, where the standard control method is capture with cages followed by anesthesia by a veterinarian, and in Viladecans, where they are in the process of hiring a specialized company to do the same following incidents that occurred in the town center last autumn.

The capture and culling method is also the option chosen in 2021 by Corbera de Llobregat, which captures around 130 wild boars a year due to the risk of them causing traffic accidents, damaging green spaces, or raiding garbage containers for food. Esplugues has had a similar system since 2024, which includes an emergency service. In Pallejà, where the wild boar population density is higher than in Collserola, a two-pronged approach is used to address their proliferation in areas where the forest has encroached due to the abandonment of farmland. There is a hunting association that receives municipal financial support, and, in parallel, since 2024 they have contracted a trap service using cages in residential areas where hunting is prohibited. "Each municipality uses the tools at its disposal," notes Alberto Segura, Councilor for Education and Childhood, Culture, Communication, Sustainability, and the Environment. In Pallejà, talks began with the Generalitat (Catalan government) to help install containers for wild boar carcasses, which would benefit hunters, but ultimately no agreement was reached. "Now we'll have to resume these talks to keep moving forward," Segura adds.

Hunters assert their rights

According to Àngel Obiols of the Catalan Hunting Federation, hiring wildlife control companies is a purely political decision, because in the Baix Llobregat region there is a strong hunting tradition and a sufficiently knowledgeable hunting community to handle this task "rigorously." "The cost to the authorities is much higher: the anesthesia alone can cost around 500 euros per animal, and the carcass must also be burned. When hunting, the meat can be consumed or sold," explains Obiols, head of the hunting group in Sant Just Desvern. This group has maintained an agreement with the town council for ten years, which both parties value highly: the council contributes to their expenses; in return, the hunters study the wild boar population and operate according to a technical plan approved by the Catalan government, reviewing the licenses of everyone involved. In Matadepera, in the neighboring region of Vallès Occidental, hunters help control wildlife—boar, but also roe deer—without shotguns, relying solely on the will to scare them away. This method is combined with cage trapping carried out by an external company, explains the mayor, Guillem Montagut. The situation is similar in Castellbisbal, which provides financial support to hunters for nighttime stalking. Matadepera, as well as Sant Cugat and Corbera, have participated in studies by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) to reduce the reproduction rate of wild boar, which breeds readily and abundantly.

But, once again, municipal boundaries dictate the strategy: when a wild boar crosses the line separating Sant Just from Sant Feliu de Llobregat, hunters cannot pull the trigger. Meetings have been held with the mayors to address this issue, although Sant Feliu officials emphasize that wild boar incidents are "isolated" and that there is good inter-municipal coordination. According to Obiols, one of the largest wild boar populations is located in the Barcelona park area, where permits for exceptional hunts are "very difficult to obtain," for political reasons, he maintains, but also due to the large number of people. Obiols laments the existence of a "prejudice" against hunters based on a stereotype that "does not correspond to the current profile" of those who practice this activity, which is more professionalized than in previous generations.

Inter-municipal coordination

With the aim of avoiding a free-for-all, the town councils of Baix Llobregat are trying to organize the management of wildlife. The mountains of Baix Llobregat are the first area of coordination. Furthermore, according to sources at the Consell Comarcal (Regional Council) who spoke to ARA, the plan is to initiate contact with the Department of Agriculture in the first quarter of 2026 to "move forward" with the agreed-upon control measures. In addition, the Consortium of the region's Agricultural Park has agreements with El Prat, Sant Boi, Santa Coloma de Cervelló, and Viladecans to facilitate exceptional roundups, with the authorization of the Generalitat (Catalan Government). Regarding El Papiol, if there are any "occasional" wild boar incursions into the fenced-off area of the Agricultural Park, it is the farmers who manage the situation with hunters or the consortium, according to municipal sources.

In Collserola, coordination is channeled through the park, where hunting raids are periodically authorized. However, this triggers the movement of wild boar throughout the massif, with an uneven impact on the municipalities. In Cerdanyola del Vallès—where there have been three raids in the Collserola area this year—they generate "discomfort and admiration more than problems," according to the town council. In contrast, the Sant Cugat City Council began receiving complaints as early as 2009 and, in eighteen years, has invested 600,000 euros to remedy the situation. In 2015, the situation reached a critical point, with up to 230 wild boar living within the city limits. Sources from this municipality are emphatic: "Capturing wild boar [in Collserola] is not enough to reduce the population within the urban area." With the plague crisis looming, The Catalan government now intends to halve the wild boar population in Catalonia.