2023-10-25 14:54:00
In 2021, the amount of declared agricultural damage caused by this species amounted to €899,898. It is mainly meadows which suffer the most damage, followed by corn and cereal crops.
According to a study by Natagora, the overpopulation of wild boars is one of the causes of the decline of several species of animals, including reptiles and ground-nesting birds.
In this context, the Walloon government decided last week to gradually ban feeding during part of the driven hunting period. The first feeding ban period will begin on December 21, 2023 until February 20, 2024 inclusive.
More and more wild boars observed in the streets of Brussels
At the same time, the government has strengthened the possibilities for hunters to destroy wild boars, in particular by authorizing shooting in the middle of the night. But these measures do not entirely convince the Stop the abuses of hunting collective, a group of 80 associations which includes, among others, the Royal Belgian League for the Protection of Birds, Natagora, the Circles of Naturalists of Belgium and the WWF.
“We are delighted with this progress by the Walloon government towards the elimination of feeding during the hunting period but the collective is however concerned regarding the possibility of feeding outside these periods without limitation of quantity, which will still allow the maintenance of a superabundant population of wild boars. In fact, feeding should have been completely banned with the possibility of exemption in the event of imminent risk of damage to agriculture and forests,” indicates the collective. He also regrets that no measures have been taken once morest the feeding of deer.
Hunters denounce hunting abuses: “We mightn’t make ourselves heard”
“It is distressing that no measure banning the feeding of deer has been taken, while abuses are still taking place in certain large hunts which create an even greater imbalance in the forest, preventing any possibility of it regenerating. naturally”, continue the associations which campaign, not for a ban on hunting but for a suppression of what they consider to be significant abuses.”
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