Collective Hunts and Night Sights: New Rules to Tackle Boar Proliferation

Extending hunting periods, allowing the use of night or thermal sights, and collective hunts are some of the measures regulated by the new decree to address the issue of wild boar overpopulation in the Valencian Community. The Consell's plenary session approved this Wednesday a new regulation setting guidelines for the management, hunting, and control of wild boars and other wild ungulates present in the Valencian Community.

The regulation also establishes management measures for by-products generated in hunting activities not intended for human consumption.

The Generalitat aims to "balance their populations, promote the conservation of native game species, and minimize impacts due to overabundance." The proliferation of these animals can harm species such as deer, fallow deer, mountain goats, roe deer, and mouflon, and also cause damage to crops.

This regulation aims to manage the growth of ungulates such as the wild boar, whose expansion has caused road safety issues, damage to crops and infrastructure, transmission of diseases to livestock, and alterations in the habitat of other species, according to the Generalitat.

Additionally, sanitary management measures for big game by-products are set to prevent the spread of animal diseases, while ensuring the conservation of scavenger birds that feed on these remains.

The Consell explains that with this regulation, the Valencian Community has a uniform framework to address the current situation of big game species.

It even allows for the declaration of overabundance of certain populations and extends control measures beyond wild boars to other wild ungulates, invasive species, or feral domestic animals present in the natural environment.

The decree establishes several lines of action, including providing hunters with adequate tools, allowing control techniques in areas where hunting is not viable for safety reasons, or prioritizing action in areas with a high concentration of species. It also considers intervention in non-hunting areas where the situation compromises the management of the surrounding environment.

One of the most innovative measures introduced by this regulation is that from now on, municipalities will be involved as key agents in population control. According to the Generalitat, this will allow for the regulation of captures in urban environments and facilitate interventions tailored to the specific needs of each municipality, through waits, collective hunts, or control techniques.

Simultaneously, the decree extends hunting periods, removes limitations on working days, and eliminates bureaucratic burdens. It also authorizes new control techniques, including the use of elements such as night or thermal sights, as well as the elimination of invasive species like the Vietnamese pig or the Barbary sheep during hunts.

And it allows for the declaration of territories with an overabundance of a species, which entails the removal of capture quotas and the establishment of a minimum hunting effort necessary to stabilize populations, in addition to the use of more effective hunting methods always under administrative control.