Government advocates “greater pressure” against boars in “full uncontrolled”

O secretary of State for Forests, Rui Ladeira, said today in Lisbon that the boar is in “full control” and that it is necessary to create a “greater pressure” for each hunting cycle to achieve a balance.

“The boar is in complete out of control [...]. We need to have greater pressure [on every hunting cycle] to create balance,” said Rui Ladeira, at a parliamentary hearing in the context of assessing the State Budget for 2027 (OE2027), after the last round of speeches, which had questions from more than 50 Members.

In October, the Ministry of Agriculture announced a pilot project for the control of wild boars in 15 districts, with €500,000 of global funding for hunting areas that reach “results higher than their historical average”.

This project covers more than 1,300 hunting areas, distributed by 65 municipalities of 15 districts of mainland Portugal.

The ministry under José Manuel Fernandes justified this measure with the growth of boar populations and their impact.

As detailed, the support is 50 euros per male and 70 per female for animals slaughtered above average.

Additional support of EUR 10 per animal sent to a game handling establishment is also provided to take advantage of the meat.

The limit is 2,000 euros per hunting zone.

For the Secretary of State for Forests this is a measure that meets the need for control of the wild boar and aims to “decrease the farmers’ losses, avoid road accidents and monitor African swine fever”, in addition to valuing the hunter, biodiversity and ecological balance.

The overall final vote of the OE2027 is scheduled for November 24, after the discussion process in the specialty.