Rise in Wild Boar Attacks Prompts Closure of Forest in South Limburg Village

Olivier van Orten (20) normally lives and studies in Utrecht, but during the holidays – with his parents in the South Limburg village of Bunde – he was walking the family dog ​​Harry in the morning. The two had barely set foot outside the door when they were attacked by a wild boar. “In the woods I would be suspicious, but in the park, here in the neighborhood, I was not.” Van Orten was able to jump over the boar, started screaming and quickly ran away. “People from the neighborhood called me to come into their garden. I was safe behind their fence.” But meanwhile Harry was attacked by the boar. “With a shovel borrowed from the neighbor I went over and chased away the boar.”

Van Orten escaped unscathed. Harry, a twelve-and-a-half-year-old labrador, was less fortunate. Bite wounds, which had not been noticed during an initial treatment by a veterinarian, became infected. The dog weakened so much that they put him to sleep last Friday on the advice of a clinic. “It really didn’t work anymore.”

Disturbance of the habitat

More people and dogs were attacked in and around Bunde in recent weeks. The forest nearby has now been closed by order of the municipality of Meerssen, which Bunde falls under. A red and white barrier tape hangs over the road with a paper with a danger sign with a boar on it. Right next to it are the permanent signs with the commandment to keep dogs on a leash.

Several places on the edge of the forest, such as the Bunde sports park, are marked with a ‘Risk area’ sign depicting a boar.

There were already incidents around Bunde earlier this year. Alfred Melissen of the Limburg Fauna Management Unit (FBE) suspects that many of the incidents in the municipality are related to disruption of the habitat of the animals. “Last January, due to snowfall, it was much busier in the forest with hikers and people with sleds. Now it is holiday time and more and more people are staying in their own country. And a lot of that goes into nature.”

As in all other provinces, the FBE jointly coordinates the implementation of the fauna management plan. This also involves hunters and organizations that manage the site, such as Staatsbosbeheer and Natuurmonumenten.

Wild boars in the Netherlands are only tolerated in the Veluwe and in National Park De Meinweg, east of Roermond. Melissen: “Outside those areas, the aim is to achieve a zero level because of the damage to agriculture, the risk of collisions and to prevent the spread of African swine fever.”

Wild boar. “All kinds of measures are being taken for badgers.”

Photo Fred Bervoets / ANP

Graduation

According to the governments involved, grading is necessary to achieve that balance. But a clear picture of the total number of boars in the country is missing. Several hundred wild boars live in De Meinweg. “There are a thousand to two thousand throughout Limburg,” says Melissen.

According to Han Olff, professor of ecology at the University of Groningen, shooting them is not effective. Boar populations regulate themselves, he says. “When animals die, they give birth to more young. Without shooting, there will be a lack of food or they will fall prey to wolves.” According to Olff, they will look for something else in the absence of swine. “Sheep, for example.”

Melissen says that it can indeed work that way. But only in the middle of the Veluwe, where the pigs only eat acorns and beechnuts, says Melissen. In South Limburg, the fields are full of beets, maize and grain and often right next to the forest, he says. “And if they don’t find them, they will rummage through sports fields, golf courses and lawns looking for worms, which also contain the amino acids that fit into their diet.”

The secretary of the FBE does not see a solution in fences either. According to him, this is not only expensive, but also an enormous disruption to the landscape. “Moreover, you also immediately limit deer, badgers and foxes in their movements. You don’t want that.”

Olff thinks fencing is possible, even in a more fragmented landscape like that of South Limburg. “All kinds of measures are being taken for badgers.”

According to Olff, tolerance for large game such as red deer and wild boar outside the designated areas is low. “However, with their eating behaviour, boars can also have an important function for rejuvenation and variation in forests and in stream and river landscapes such as those in South Limburg.”

Army helicopter

Mayor Mirjam Clermonts-Aretz of the municipality of Meerssen can do little, she says. Her powers are limited. “In nature it is up to the FBE. Only when the boars threaten the safety of the villages themselves can I order an animal to be killed.” The forest at Bunde has been closed for a while.

The mayor has banned children staying overnight at the sports park during a working week. “The kids make enough noise during the day. In the dark, when it is quiet, I thought the risk was too great. Even if you put a guard in every tent.”

Only when the boars threaten the safety of the villages can I order an animal to be killed

Mirjam Clermonts-Aretz mayor

The municipality is trying to inform residents. On the municipality’s website Meerssen residents can read what to do when encountering boars: make noise, make yourself big or hide behind a tree – the boars see only moderately.

Despite her effort, some of the emotions about the boars focus on Clermonts-Aretz herself. “I think because I said that in the choice between safety for people and animals, I will choose people,” she says. “After a comment like that you see it go wild on social media.”

‘Pure on adrenaline’

On X, formerly Twitter, there was a photo that showed an army helicopter hovering in the air when hunters entered the forest. Clermonts-Aretz: “As if the management is done with such Wild West scenes.” To be sure, the municipality checked what was going on. What turned out? “That helicopter flew there in connection with a defense exercise,” she says.

The municipality is now receiving calls from frightened residents, for example a newspaper delivery man who has to go through the woods early in the morning.

Student Olivier van Orten is not afraid to take to the streets after the incident with the boar. “I was not afraid. Everything was purely on adrenaline.” His mother sent messages to neighbors to warn them. “I did that myself, by the way. If possible, stay away from the park.”

Also read this article: Wild boar hunt in the Veluwe

A version of this article also appeared in the August 21, 2023 newspaper.
2023-08-20 18:13:02


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