Mammal removed from list of protected species after human-animal conflicts

Wild boars have been removed from a list of protected animals in China following economic losses caused by the animals in agricultural areas, along with increasing conflicts with residents.

Experts said the decision to exclude boars from the list was based on growing concerns about their rising numbers and the detrimental impact on agricultural production.

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration removed the animals from the List of Terrestrial Wildlife With Significant Ecological, Scientific and Social Value on June 30.

The creatures have long plagued residents, especially farmers.

Despite using various methods to drive the boars away from farmland, villagers in Sichuan province, where the animals have run wild, have had little success, China Newsweek reported in 2021. The deterrents used included lighting firecrackers, banging on pots and pans, placing scarecrows and using loudspeakers.

In recent years, local media across China have reported several incidents of the boars causing harm and injuring people.

In 2016, two villagers were bitten by boars in Qianshan, Anhui province. Five years later, a village official died after being attacked by a boar in Ganzi Tibet autonomous prefecture, Sichuan, while in May, a car crashed into and killed a boar on a highway in Lu'an, Anhui.

Villagers, fearing that the boars may suddenly enter their yards and cause harm, took radical action without permission from local authorities.

Documents made public by China Judgements Online showed that in 2019, a villager named Han from Zunyi, Guizhou province, used a high-voltage trapping device without permission from the forestry authority to capture a boar in an area where hunting was prohibited. He then sold the animal to another villager for 2,000 yuan ($278).

Han was caught by police while connecting the trapping device in another location a few days later.

Police found that Han had taken part in other activities by using high-voltage traps or steel wire during the closed hunting seasons in 2018 and 2019.

In accordance with the Criminal Law and the Supreme People's Court's Interpretation of the Specific Application of Laws in the Trial of Criminal Cases Involving Destruction of Wildlife Resources, he was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for illegal hunting.

After the verdict was announced, Han filed an appeal to the court, saying he did not hunt for a living, but only to protect his crops from wild boars. He said other villagers asked for his help with this issue. The court rejected his appeal, and the original ruling was sustained.

Serious violation

A document released by China Judgements Online shows that four farmers from Loudi, Hunan province, were sentenced to imprisonment or placed under supervision for hunting boars.

The court considered the farmers' actions to be a serious violation of hunting regulations, resulting in damage to local wildlife resources.

In 2018, the farmers found that wild boars were feeding on sweet potatoes on their land. Two of them captured a couple of the animals by using an electric shock method. Several days later, three of the farmers used this method to hunt boars, but failed to find any. The farmers were then arrested.

Beijing News reported that in 2020, a woman in her 60s surnamed Wu was sentenced to three months' detention after being found guilty of illegal hunting.

In 2019, Wu bought an electric fence to protect her farmland on the outskirts of Bazhong city, Sichuan, from wild boars. However, she broke the law in her attempts to ward off the animals, as she accidentally electrocuted and killed three of them.

For seven years, Wu spent her nights in a simple shack in the mountains to combat frequent invasions from boars that had threatened her crops since 2014.

She used to harvest about 1,500 kilograms of corn a year, but with boars in the area, she only managed to harvest 300 kg, Beijing News reported.

To address conflicts between humans and wildlife, forestry departments and local governments have introduced compensation measures to reduce economic losses caused by wild boars.

As of October 2021, forestry department workers had successfully hunted 1,982 boars in 173 towns where the animals had caused damage. Compensation totaling about 3.76 million yuan was awarded to 5,960 households for the losses they experienced, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said.

Severely affected

Sichuan is one of the provinces most severely affected by damage caused by wild boars. The provincial authorities have identified more than 820,000 of the animals, mainly in mountainous areas.

Local data show that nearly 10,000 incidents of damage have been caused by wild boars, with losses exceeding 200 million yuan annually, Sichuan Daily reported last month.

In 2021, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration announced the launch of pilot projects to prevent and control damage caused by boars in 14 provinces and regions where the animals are most prevalent. The areas include Shanxi, Sichuan, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hebei and Guangdong provinces.

Data from the administration showed that 26 out of 31 provinces and regions had experienced damage caused by the animals.

Explaining the reason for the boars' removal from the list of protected animals, Sun Quanhui, a senior scientific adviser at the World Animal Protection organization, said the wild boar population in China has risen rapidly in some areas of the country in recent years.

The population growth is attributed to the positive results of environmental governance, Sun said. In addition, the absence of natural predators such as tigers, leopards, jackals and wolves has played a significant role in the wild boar population expanding, he added.

In 2000, the wild boar was included on the protected list as a terrestrial wildlife species of significant ecological, scientific and social value.

The revised list also removed several species that are widely distributed, have large populations, no risk of extinction, or may cause harm, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said.

Before their removal from the list, wild boars were hunted by professional teams. A hunting team's license had to be reviewed by a forestry and grassland department, while a gun license was required from a public security department — a lengthy and complicated process.

Eating the meat of hunted wild boars was forbidden. The meat was bought by local authorities at the standard rate of 20 yuan ($2.78) per kilogram, which helped pay the hunting teams.

A government document released last year by the Jinzhai county forestry department in Anhui stated that boars are disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.

Sun said, "The adjustment to the list may simplify procedures for hunting wild boars, which can lead to an increase in such activities."

Law enforcement supervision should be strengthened to prevent the opportunistic poaching of other wild animals as a result of hunting boars, he added.

"Removing boars from the list does not mean they can be hunted and killed without any legal responsibility being taken. Hunting and killing the animals in protected areas, prohibited zones, or during periods when hunting is banned is still punishable by law," he said.

The Criminal Law states that illegal hunting, purchasing, transportation and selling of wild animals in their natural environments is subject to punishment.