Haifa wild boar culling has some residents up in arms
Municipality said to have killed 100 animals in past few months, with hunters gunning them down in the streets
The Haifa municipality has adopted an aggressive culling program to counter an invasion of wild boars, with hunters roaming the streets and shooting animals that enter residential areas.
The program has seen an estimated 100 boars shot dead since April, and animal welfare activists say more could be done to reduce the number of boars being killed and to make the method more humane.
For years the northern port city has been plagued by wild boars, who are drawn to scavenge through garbage overflowing from dumpsters or on the streets. Boars are considered protected wild animals and special permits are needed to hunt them.
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, who took office at the end of March, made clearing the streets of boars an election promise.
He quickly appointed former IDF brigadier general David Luria to manage the project, which is coordinated with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and complies with an agreement between the two bodies.
Haifa resident Ella Bar David is in a group of residents demanding humane treatment of the boars. She told the Globes business daily that Luria patrols the streets in a jeep at night looking for boars and when he spots any he calls in hunters who shoot them, allegedly without even exiting their vehicles, and sometimes from a range of several meters. Municipal vehicles then come and collect the remains.
“They don’t make sure that the boar is dead, and the hunters shoot from the cars,” said Ben David, who is worried that a local resident may encounter a wounded boar that would attack them.
She told Globes that, at first, the culling was done during the day but children saw what was going on and it was moved to the nighttime.
According to the report, former mayor Einat Kalish Rotem put together a plan that involved improving sanitation to prevent attracting boars looking to scavenge garbage, along with fencing off streets and playgrounds, and explaining to residents why they should be careful about not leaving food out. Boars were to be captured and then killed in a humane matter, Bar David recalled.
However, the plan was never put into practice amid political infighting at the municipality that disrupted budgets.
Amit Dolev, an ecologist in the northern district of INPA, told Globes that the current program is essentially the same as the one that Kalish envisioned and that it is only the boars that pose a threat to the public that “we are obligated” to kill.
However, according to Globes, the current operation has placed a greater emphasis on shooting boars and also on which of the animals is considered enough of a problem that it needs to be culled.
According to Bar David, the INPA considers any boar that is not afraid of humans to be a problem, “even if it has never attacked or threatened to attack anyone.”
Dolev confirmed that is the case, explaining that “as soon as [boars] are no longer afraid of humans,” they are dangerous. He said there have already been incidents of boars harassing people — a child’s school bag was stolen in one case and in another boars snatched bags of goods from a woman exiting a supermarket. In 2021, a 69-year-old man was injured by a boar. According to researchers at the University of Haifa, there have been very few incidents of boars physically attacking — much fewer than dog attacks in the city.
“These are large and dangerous animals and these phenomena will happen more and more because these animals see humans as their source of food,” Dolev said.
The Times of Israel Community.