Speaker
Description
Konjević, Dean1*; Ranogajec, Vlasta2; Krapinec, Krešimir3; Lugarić, Snježana2; Bujanić, Miljenko1; Madi, Ivan4; Kruc, Miljenko5; Reindl, Branimir6
1 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia
2 City of Zagreb, City Office for Economy, Environmental Sustainability and Strategic Planning, Sector for Agriculture, Forestry and Hunting, Zagreb, Croatia
3 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Zagreb, Croatia
4 Zagreb Zoo, Zagreb, Croatia
5 Zagreb Hunting Association, Sesvete, Croatia
6 Wilderness Research and Management j.d.o.o., Novoselec, Croatia
* dean.konjevic@vef.unizg.hr
DOI: 10.20315/evmc.2025.034
Wild boar (Sus scrofa) is an opportunistic species which thrives in the urban environment, but causes fear, crop damages, wildlife-vehicle collisions, and represents a potential source of zoonoses. In the last decades, the occurrence of wildlife in urban areas is an increasing phenomenon, which leads to the mentioned human-wildlife conflicts. At the same time, one part of the citizens dislikes the presence of wildlife in the city, while the other one supports them with additional feeding. This conflict of opinions makes it harder to implement measures to control their presence. Urban wildlife in the city of Zagreb is partially managed under the Program of game protection. Within that, monitoring of presence and corridors of wild boar and crows, and their control was launched by the City administration in cooperation with Zagreb ZOO, Zagreb Hunting Association, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb. In the preparatory phase, locations with reported human-wild boar conflicts were analysed on the field, and photo-traps were deployed. Mobile modular traps with the ability to monitor wild boar via mobile phone were installed on selected locations. Trapped wild boar were chemically immobilized and euthanized, since translocation of alive wild boar is currently prohibited due to the risk of African swine fever transmission. Samples of faeces, blood, nasal and rectal swabs were collected for the purpose of partial health monitoring. Authorized company removed the carcasses. In the same time, hunting associations performed shooting of wild boar in the areas where it was possible according to the legislation. Presence of wild boar in Zagreb during the winter was monitored using the thermal cameras mounted on a drone. Along with cage trapping and shooting, other measures including donation of repellents to citizens, conduction of education, and cleaning of abandoned areas under succession of the secondary growth are also implemented. It is further planned to immobilize five wild boar and mark them with GPS collars to identify corridors used by these animals and connection with nearby Nature Park Medvednica. This integrative approach resulted in removal of 98 wild boar in the period of 1.5 years.
