
After the chilling video of a few days ago where some policemen shot a wild boar in Granollers, the Barcelona City Council has announced new and remarkable progress in the fight that the cities of the metropolitan area maintain with the wild boar.Specifically, the decrease of 70% in incidents related to these animals in urban areas during the last two years, from 1,321 incidents in 2022 to only 417 in 2024, and from the capture of 292 specimens in 2022 to 92 in the last year.
How is the fight against wild boars?
The City Council has explained, through, the Animal Rights Directorate, that this success is due to the implementation of a comprehensive Action Plan in the urban area, which combines various strategies to prevent the habituation of wild boars to the urban environment:
- Blocking of garbage containers: systems have been implemented to prevent wild boars from accessing food scraps in containers in specific areas.
- Wooden fences: 22 wooden fences have been installed in mountain neighborhoods to delimit areas and make it difficult for the animals to access the city.
- Clearing of areas: Clearing work has been carried out in certain areas to eliminate refuge and resting areas for wild boars.
- Protection of cat colonies: Measures have been taken to protect cat colonies near the Collserola park, preventing the cats’ feed from attracting wild boars.
In addition, it seems that the drought decree has also contributed to the decrease in incidences, as the lack of irrigation in grassy areas has reduced the availability of food for wild boars in areas where they used to look for it.On the other hand, the City Council has also reinforced information campaigns to raise awareness among the population about the importance of not feeding wild boars.Feeding them accustoms them to human presence, which then exposes them to risks such as being run over and, in addition, can lead to penalties of up to 90 euros.Finally, the Guardia Urbana has prepared a specific protocol to capture the animals and ensure public safety when they enter the urban fabric.
Wild boars by neighborhoods: Sarrià, the neighborhood with more wild boars
The decrease in incidents has been observed in all the affected districts, and gives us a map of which are the neighborhoods and districts most affected by wild boars in the city:The most affected district is clearly Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, which goes from 509 to 220 incidents. In second place, Horta-Guinardó (from 327 to 70) and in third and fourth place Nou Barris (from 251 to 55) and Gràcia (from 131 incidents in 2022 to 12 in 2024).