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The same is happening with the wild boar in Sweden. They're multiplying like there's no tomorrow. IIRC from the radio news item I heard, there's now 4x more car

by tpmx 7y ago

The same is happening with the wild boar in Sweden. They're multiplying like there's no tomorrow. IIRC from the radio news item I heard, there's now 4x more car collisions with wild boars than with moose, which is a bit of an unusual situation here. Volvo may need to recalibrate their safety effort... The national government here just announced a few days ago they'll allocate resources on streamlining Trichinella round-worm testing procedures and encouraging use of wild boar meat in restaurants, school food, fast food (McBoar, anyone?) etc. Many farmers have been complaining about ruined fields.

teddyh 7y ago
> The same is happening with the wild boar in Sweden. It’s not really the same. In Sweden, wild boars are effectively an indigenous species, present since the stone age. In the Americas, wild boars are an invasive species and a veritable menace to the local flora and fauna.
- tpmx 7y ago
  Why does that difference matter? Edit: I mean: they have been multiplying like mad over the past 20 years. Why shouldn't we allow hunters to shoot them in some organizer manner to keep the population at some constant healthy size, like we do with the moose population? And why shouldn't that meat be used to feed people?
  - teddyh 7y ago
    The difference is that a non-invasive species is not usually a problem for the local environment. There is no reason to believe that wild boar suddenly would be multiplying massively in their native environment, since the wild boars should have natural predators and environmental factors keeping the population limited. If those are missing, the natural (and often relatively easy, compared to the alternatives) response would be to re-intruduce those natural predators and/or environments. In short, there is probably not that much to worry about wild boars in their natural environment. To Americans, though, who are used to thinking about wild boars as a unadultered horrifying menace (which they are where they live), describing Sweden as “the same” is misleading at best.
    - tpmx 7y ago
      But they clearly are multiplying massively. I can quote any number of Swedish language sources that back up that statement, but that wouldn't be of general interest to the HN community. I'll happily concede that we disagree on semantics.
      - teddyh 7y ago
        > But they clearly are multiplying massively. In which case, as I explained, there is probably a comparatively easy solution involving reinforcing the naturally preexisting factors which usually limit the population growth. In any case, there is no reasonable way in which the situation of wild boars in America and Sweden could be described as “the same”. They are fundamentally wildly different.
        tpmx 7y ago
        Sounds like a fascinating research topic. Let us know when you're done!
    - stubish 7y ago
      The natural predator for larger animals is often humans. We stop hunting them and the numbers grow until the food supply limits are hit. This often affects other creatures too, who may also rely on the same food.
thrower123 7y ago
You really need some AR-15s, I suppose. What else are you going to do when 30-40 feral hogs come barging across your lawn?
- tpmx 7y ago
  I assume it will be dealt with like the moose population has been dealt with since like forever. Like half of them are hunted every year. (Hunting teams will be awarded a number of animals to kill per district. I don't think they'll use AR-15s)
  - fao_ 7y ago
    I think you missed the joke (maybe?). https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/30-50-feral-hogs https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/30-50-feral-hogs
    - tpmx 7y ago
      Yeah, I guess I did.
  - sunkenvicar 7y ago
    Hunting invasive wild boar is encouraged year round in many jurisdictions. Lots of people choose to use their AR-15s. An excellent platform available in all kinds of calibers.
jaclaz 7y ago
>The same is happening with the wild boar in Sweden. They're multiplying like there's no tomorrow. It is the same in Italy, not everywhere but in several regions. Here they make a sort of "quota" of how many can (and should ) be hunted and killed in a given area to keep population under control. Still there are years when the "quota" is not calculated (no idea how it is actually calculated) correctly and we have simply too many of them roaming around, to the dismay of farmers and more generally those living in the countryside as they (the boars) can really ruin a field or garden in no time. As a side note, the actual meat, once checked negative for parasites, is among the "best" ones, in the sense that it is free from antibiotics and other drugs possibly used with raised pigs and the food the boars eat is 100% natural.

by tpmx 7y ago

teddyh 7y ago

> The same is happening with the wild boar in Sweden. It’s not really the same. In Sweden, wild boars are effectively an indigenous species, present since the stone age. In the Americas, wild boars are an invasive species and a veritable menace to the local flora and fauna.

tpmx 7y ago
Why does that difference matter? Edit: I mean: they have been multiplying like mad over the past 20 years. Why shouldn't we allow hunters to shoot them in some organizer manner to keep the population at some constant healthy size, like we do with the moose population? And why shouldn't that meat be used to feed people?
- teddyh 7y ago
  The difference is that a non-invasive species is not usually a problem for the local environment. There is no reason to believe that wild boar suddenly would be multiplying massively in their native environment, since the wild boars should have natural predators and environmental factors keeping the population limited. If those are missing, the natural (and often relatively easy, compared to the alternatives) response would be to re-intruduce those natural predators and/or environments. In short, there is probably not that much to worry about wild boars in their natural environment. To Americans, though, who are used to thinking about wild boars as a unadultered horrifying menace (which they are where they live), describing Sweden as “the same” is misleading at best.
  - tpmx 7y ago
    But they clearly are multiplying massively. I can quote any number of Swedish language sources that back up that statement, but that wouldn't be of general interest to the HN community. I'll happily concede that we disagree on semantics.
    - teddyh 7y ago
      > But they clearly are multiplying massively. In which case, as I explained, there is probably a comparatively easy solution involving reinforcing the naturally preexisting factors which usually limit the population growth. In any case, there is no reasonable way in which the situation of wild boars in America and Sweden could be described as “the same”. They are fundamentally wildly different.
      - tpmx 7y ago
        Sounds like a fascinating research topic. Let us know when you're done!
  - stubish 7y ago
    The natural predator for larger animals is often humans. We stop hunting them and the numbers grow until the food supply limits are hit. This often affects other creatures too, who may also rely on the same food.

thrower123 7y ago

You really need some AR-15s, I suppose. What else are you going to do when 30-40 feral hogs come barging across your lawn?

tpmx 7y ago
I assume it will be dealt with like the moose population has been dealt with since like forever. Like half of them are hunted every year. (Hunting teams will be awarded a number of animals to kill per district. I don't think they'll use AR-15s)
- fao_ 7y ago
  I think you missed the joke (maybe?). https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/30-50-feral-hogs https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/30-50-feral-hogs
  - tpmx 7y ago
    Yeah, I guess I did.
- sunkenvicar 7y ago
  Hunting invasive wild boar is encouraged year round in many jurisdictions. Lots of people choose to use their AR-15s. An excellent platform available in all kinds of calibers.

jaclaz 7y ago

>The same is happening with the wild boar in Sweden. They're multiplying like there's no tomorrow. It is the same in Italy, not everywhere but in several regions. Here they make a sort of "quota" of how many can (and should ) be hunted and killed in a given area to keep population under control. Still there are years when the "quota" is not calculated (no idea how it is actually calculated) correctly and we have simply too many of them roaming around, to the dismay of farmers and more generally those living in the countryside as they (the boars) can really ruin a field or garden in no time. As a side note, the actual meat, once checked negative for parasites, is among the "best" ones, in the sense that it is free from antibiotics and other drugs possibly used with raised pigs and the food the boars eat is 100% natural.