At the end of December, an administrative beat was organized in Semur-en-Auxois, in Côte-d’Or, to scare away wild boars which had taken over a district of the town. Hunger pushes animals out of the forests.
When they arrive in town, the Semur residents change sidewalks. At nightfall, there are about thirty wild boars trotting in the streets of the city, on the side of the road to Massène.
Last December, they ventured to the Mistral biscuit factory, near the organic store and even the train station. Some residents have seen them on playgrounds. This is what prompted the mayor of Semur-en-Auxois, in Côte-d’Or, to request an administrative beat on December 30, 2021.
This poses a real security problem. The inhabitants began to find wild boars in the streets, they approached houses and people were afraid.
Catherine Sadon, mayor of Semur-en-Auxois
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The mobilization of hunters and lieutenants of louveterie during this so-called “settling” beaten was to scare off the animals to dissuade them from returning to this area on the banks of the Saussiotte river where two bramble wastelands provide a pantry for the animals. wild pigs.
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Since then, residents have noticed that there are fewer furrows and boutis, traces of their passages in the surrounding land from the beaten track.
Semur-en-Auxois is not an isolated case. The wild boars are starting to leave the forests of the Combe à la Serpent, on the heights of Dijon, to venture into the fields at Plombières-les-Dijon and Corcelles-les-Monts. How to explain that wild boars, rather fearful animals, enter the city?
It is hunger that drives the wild boars to leave the forests.
Pascal Sécula, president of the Côte d’Or departmental hunting federation
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This winter, forest fruits, such as acorns and beechnuts, are sorely lacking. Pascal Sécula explains: “The frost episodes that impacted fruit trees also affected forests. The wild boars find themselves without food. They are very intelligent animals so they go out to burrow in the fields and in brownfields. They even go as far as farmers’ stalls. “
Thierry Besançon is the representative of the FDSEA who follows the case “boars”. He confirms that farmers throughout the department are reporting damage caused by wild boars on their plots: “Today, the Côte-d’Orian forest can no longer accommodate the entire population so it spills over into cultures, meadows and even towns”, explains the farmer.
In order for the population to be able to eat only in the forest (fruits and larvae in particular), an average of 5 wild boars per 100 hectares of forest is needed. In Côte-d’Or, in some areas, we are at 50 heads per 100 ha.
Thierry Besançon, president of the FDSEA game damage commission
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Pontailler-sur-Saône, Fontaine-Française, Montigny-sur-Aube … Since 2018, the Departmental Directorate of Territories (DDT) of Côte-d’Or has confirmed that the problem of overpopulation has been identified and that there is “thirteen black spots“.
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“We have set up a monitoring committee with the lieutenants of the louveterie, the hunters and the farmers. When there is an area where there is a lot of damage to the crops, we can organize simultaneous hunts in several municipalities, increasing the frequency of hunts or assigning new bracelets in overcrowded areas “, explains DDT.
For this hunting campaign, until March 31, 2022, the prefecture and the DDT authorized the hunting of 20,898 wild boars. Pascal Sécula, the boss of hunters in the department, specifies: “You should know that at the end of December, we had already taken 10,000. It’s a record and proof that there is an increase in populations. ”
Another worrying record is the number of reports of damage to crops received by the FDSEA.
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“All geographic areas are affected. I estimate that wild boars have already done 1 million euros in damage.”
Thierry Besançon, president of the FDSEA 21 game damage commission
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The problem of overpopulation of wild boars is difficult to resolve and there is general agreement that it will involve hunting. Moreover, the number of attribution of bracelets for the 2021-2022 campaign will be raised in the coming days by the DDT.
To limit damage to crops, hunter Pascal Sécula is campaigning to maintain farming throughout the year. This highly contested practice consists of making food available to game. “A reasoned agrainage would make it possible to keep the animal in the forest, to be able to hunt it more and to avoid that there are impacts on the cultures and in the cities.“, argues the hunter.
For six years, in Côte d’Or, the practice has been suspended between December 1 and February 28, 2022, unlike Yonne or Haute-Marne. Many farmers, like Thierry Besançon, are up against this practice: “Agraining is like turning wild animals into domestic animals and countering all natural selection. When you feed the sow they reproduce even more and they can make up to ten young. It does not protect our crops. On the contrary, c ‘is a vicious cycle. “
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At DDT, same story, agrainage will not be allowed until further notice because it would be counterproductive: “If the boar leaves its territory, it is because there is overpopulation and that it is looking for a refuge. In the brownfields, there is food and a quiet area where he is not hunted“we are told.
The subject is sensitive because wild boars are approaching more and more farms. The transmission of epidemics, such as bovine tuberculosis or swine fever present in Europe, is in the minds. The forest ecosystem is also suffering.
Hunters, farmers and the State agree on one point: controlling the overpopulation of wild boars is a major issue for wild and domestic fauna, but it will take several years to regulate this intelligent species.
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