This is a subject that has remained until now “a blind spot” in the fields of study of urban planning agencies, indicates Françoise Le Lay, director of studies at the A’Urba. In its new issue of CaMBo (The notebooks of the Bordeaux metropolis), the Bordeaux-Aquitaine urban planning agency looked at “animals in the city”, a field “little explored when we hear a lot about a return of wild animals to the city, continues Françoise Le Lay. So we wanted to dig. »
The wild boar is in particular one of the species on which the A’Urba leaned, even if it “is not considered strictly speaking as a wild species, because it is a forest species which has adapted, we call him the urban resident” explains Françoise Le Lay.
In 2015, a wild boar seen in front of Bordeaux city hall
Doctoral student in geography, doctor of veterinary medicine, Carole Marin is interested “in the link between animal dynamics and the construction of urban policies. In this issue of CaMBo, she presented the results of the naturalist part of her study on the interaction of humans with animals, the boar having the particularity of generating various destructions or automobile collisions.
“In Barcelona, scientists have been studying the issue for twenty years, in Bordeaux it dates back to 2005-2006, with a significant event in 2015, when a wild boar, which had clearly lost its way, was seen in front of the town hall. This alerted the public authorities and there was, at that time, the construction of work on the part of the departmental hunting federation, which resulted in an urban hunting management plan, which was presented in 2019.” At the same time, “since 2013-2014, administrative destruction has been put in place to “counter” this invasion by slaughtering animals, at the level of the Jalles park, the hills park on the right bank, and south of the city as well. »
In town, “they move faster so as not to meet humans”
A telemetric monitoring project (by GPS collar) has been set up to better understand how wild boars function in the urban space. “We followed about ten adults, and we also equipped about sixty young people with ear tags, with identification numbers, which allowed us to know where the animal had been marked, and to know their average dispersion. when there was a motor vehicle collision or when he was picked up hunting. »
First lesson: “the initial hypotheses were almost all false” assures Carole Marin. “We know the mores of the rural boar, but we didn’t really know how the animal functioned in the urban space, which is very fragmented. Some imagined that the animals came to take refuge in urban areas during hunting periods, before returning to forest areas. We have shown that the animals captured in the suburban towns of the Bordeaux conurbation live there year-round. These are animals that have become sedentary, that’s why I’m talking about urban boars, knowing that their living spaces are reduced. In return, they move faster so as not to encounter humans. »
Ecological corridors and metropolitan parks appeal to large wildlife
These animals, however, remain real boars, and not “wild boars, as some call them. They are always forest boars, with an essentially nocturnal activity, it is also rare that we come across animals. »
The territorial analysis of the Bordeaux conurbation also favors their establishment in the city. “Unlike Berlin and Brussels, which are surrounded by forest areas, Bordeaux is penetrated by ecological corridors right into the city. There is also the presence of metropolitan parks, nature reserves, such as the Bruges reserve, which is a remarkable site, and peri-urban agricultural projects that appeal to large fauna. » The analysis of statements of presence indices shows that the ecological niche of the Bordeaux wild boar corresponds quite faithfully to the green framework of the PLU (Local urban plan) of Bordeaux Métropole.
More generally, the growth of wildlife in urban areas “is not a massive phenomenon” tempers Françoise Le Lay. “But there are wild animals that we see more and more, such as raccoons in the east of France, foxes, or even pumas in the United States… That says things about evolution of our environment, on climate change and urban sprawl. But we are very ambiguous with these animals: at first we find it unusual, cute, and very quickly we realize that cohabitation can be a problem. »
The issue of CaMBo on animals in the city is available from Le Festin editions (80 pages, 10 euros). It will be presented at a public meeting this Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Bordeaux Museum, 5 place Bardineau.
