# Think wild boars are a rural problem?



## shop tom (Oct 31, 2009)

Check out how many wild boars there are in Berlin:

http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/Animals/Archives/2006/The-Boar-Wars.aspx

"Today some 7,000 to 8,000 boars live in Berlin year-round, compared to an estimated 3,000 full-time city swine in 1989. An additional 3,000 to 4,000 of the animals move in during spring to search for food and places to bear their young--up to 12 per litter, which has prompted some scientists to start experimenting with boar contraception. They hope a "pig pill," delivered through pellets left in food troughs in the forest, will help curb the species' exploding populations."

Of course, the animal huggers are there to muck things up:

"Despite the obvious dangers--including the fact that wild boars cause hundreds of traffic accidents in Berlin every year--German law protects the animals in cities, and officials cannot kill one unless it's actively threatening a person's life or property. That said, sharpshooters with special permits from the forestry department kill some 2,000 every year in greater Berlin. It's a controversial policy that's pitting those frightened by the boars against those who want to protect them. "

tom


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## Perferator (Oct 18, 2003)

That's german engineering at it's finest :lol:


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## Mitchell Ulrich (Sep 10, 2007)

..."some 7,000 to 8,000 boars live in Berlin year-round"...


There is no way that estimation is anywhere near being accurate!


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## shop tom (Oct 31, 2009)

Mitchell Ulrich said:


> ..."some 7,000 to 8,000 boars live in Berlin year-round"...
> 
> 
> There is no way that estimation is anywhere near being accurate!


Why? Do you think it's too high or too low? 

tom


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## junkman (Jan 14, 2010)

shop tom said:


> Why? Do you think it's too high or too low?
> 
> tom


Too low have you ever seen the women in germany:lol:


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## Mitchell Ulrich (Sep 10, 2007)

My FIL lives in Germany, south of Berlin. Pig hunting is to the Germans what Deer hunting is to us. 

Our regulations here in the US would be seen as weak and under regulated when compared to theirs. 

They know exactly what lives where and who it belongs to!

1) NOBODY can buy land to hunt on! ALL wildlife belongs to the State.

2) Hunting is a privilege, you can not hunt until you serve an apprenticeship and are sponsored into a hunt club. That could take years for an opening to develop. Once you are a member, the State issues you tracks of land that yours and your alone. 

3) You can invite guests. However YOU are responsible for everything that happens on that land. Should it contain farm crops and the wildlife does damage, you WILL pay the farmer for his loss.

I don't know who came up with those numbers, or the political slant being applied to it, but there is NO WAY they can be correct.


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## Shlwego (Sep 13, 2006)

Mitchell Ulrich said:


> I don't know who came up with those numbers, or the political slant being applied to it, but there is NO WAY they can be correct.


Google this: Wild Hog Problem in Berlin.

I think you'll be surprised.


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## Mitchell Ulrich (Sep 10, 2007)

Here's what I found.

This is slanted by a PETA-Anti perspective.
The article also stated..." 211 have died this year"...I noticed that they don't clearly state "WHO" or "WHAT" died. Had it been HUMAN lives lost, then the "PIG" problem would have been addressed long ago. 
It also does not state where this info is coming form, which makes me even more skeptical as to the real facts.

What it does remind me of is the Coyote 'problem' in the Detroit Metro area. A few cats and dogs get carried off, then the News media makes it sound like were being invaded by packs of rabid animals hell bent on the total destruction of all mankind.

Remember the Americanized Killer Bees? 
SARS?
Swine Flu?
Bird Flu?
CWD?
I would add Berlin is under siege from wild pigs to that list of mis-information.

I could be wrong..but I seriously doubt Berlin is/was under siege from 8000 wild, savage hogs back in 2008.

Mitch



In *Berlin's Boar* War, Some Side With the *Hogs* - WSJ.com
Dec 16, 2008 *...* *BERLIN* -- Gabriele Klose simply couldn't let the hunter kill the *wild boar* running around her flower store. Not after it looked up at her *...*
online.wsj.com/.../SB122937877627908421.html - Cached - [ame="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&rlz=1I7GGIT_en&q=relatednline.wsj.com/article/SB122937877627908421.html+Wild+Hog+Problem+in+Berlin.&tbo=1&sa=X&ei=pJgXTPCVFp****v53JoL&ved=0CBYQHzAA"]Similar[/ame] - [ame="http://www.google.com/url?sa=p&pref=ig&pval=3&q=/ig/setp%3Fss%3D1%26et%3D4c1798a50IiO_Bgp%26source%3Dgwli%26ae%3Dgwli%26pid%3D%26n_32%3Durl%253Dhttp://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/100674619146546250953/wsj.xml%2526name%253DWSJ%2526hl%253Den%26url%3D/ig%253Fhl%253Den%2526referrer%253Dgwli&ei=pJgXTPCVFp****v53JoL&ved=0CBQQ-QcwAA&usg=AFQjCNGeGhTkMA3YiAF6vbLynxW36G6JIg"]Add to iGoogle[/ame]


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## Shlwego (Sep 13, 2006)

Yeah, I saw that article, Mitch, although I didn't draw the same "anti" conclusions you did. Sure they talked about how some people didn't want them shot, but they also talked to people who did. Frankly, Europe has more of a problem with antis than we do, so I'm surprised the article wasn't more slanted. But I know some people who have recently moved back from Berlin and they say it really is becoming quite a problem. So I did some further digging and found this:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,663411,00.html

and from a 2004 article, this:

_Wild boars running rampant in Berlin to delight, fear of Germans
BY MATTHEW SCHOFIELD
Knight Ridder Newspapers

BERLIN - (KRT) - Paris has the boulevards. Rome has the fountains. But here, well, they've got the pigs.

Lots of pigs. Big ones. Wild ones. They don't call them pigs, of course. Here, they're called Wildschwein, which translates to wild pigs, or wild boars. And they're all over the news these days.

Look in Der Tagesspiegel and there's a picture of a momma boar, okay, a sow, suckling five piglets. She's resting against the passenger side wheel of a sedan, which is parked in front of an apartment building. A few days ago, in southwestern Berlin, a 54-year-old man encountered a boar, of all places, hiding under his dining room table. The boar bit him when he tried to shoo it away.

Boars are not cute creatures. Typically weighing between 200 and 300 pounds, they can be aggressive, using their five-inch tusks as weapons - especially females with litters.

Berliners like to say their boars rarely attack, and many residents put out food for them or don't complain as they root through a city park or private garden. Some note that the boars line up outside doors, like pets, waiting for their meals.

That has meant closer encounters with human residents. In recent months, they've been spotted in the center of what was old East Berlin, Alexanderplatz. 

The boars even disrupted training on the grounds of Hertha BSC, the city's largest professional soccer club, "Yes, they were tearing up one of the training pitches," team official James Jakob said. "We brought in a hunter, who studied their habits for a week, then shot them. He kept the meat."

The boars have been here longer than the city. But they've increased in numbers recently because of warm winters, an increase in corn grown by area farmers and the fact that between trash and boar lovers, there's an abundant food supply in the city. The city recently has established a wild animal hotline and a law against feeding boars. *The city of 4 million also has an official whose title bespeaks a not so compassionate face toward the boar - hunting consultant. Derk Ehlert, who holds the position, said that in the last year, 2,400 wild boar have been killed in the city, a number which does not count the many that died in car accidents. He estimates the total Berlin population to be 8,000 or more, hiding in the official forests, city parks and the greenways along train lines."*_ 

Is it really 8,000? I don't know. Frankly I don't care. But I think it shows that what we're dealing with here in Michigan is not unique, and that if we think the feral pig issue is going to remain a strictly rural problem, we may be kidding ourselves.......


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## Zofchak (Jan 10, 2003)

My favorite quote from the article. 

"Mr. Eggert, the hunter, thinks it's time Berlin's authorities got tough. He says: "We should just gather hunters at the these feeding sites, make the civilians stand aside, and feed the swine with lead."" :evil:


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## shop tom (Oct 31, 2009)

Mitchell Ulrich said:


> My FIL lives in Germany, south of Berlin. Pig hunting is to the Germans what Deer hunting is to us.
> 
> Our regulations here in the US would be seen as weak and under regulated when compared to theirs.
> 
> ...



Sheesh! Nothing like socialized, government-regulated hunting. Wonder what comes when the government decides that guns in private hands and hunting is "unnecessary".

With the way the U.S is being "Europeanized", I wonder how long it will take for someone to propose such regulations here............


tom


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## Mitchell Ulrich (Sep 10, 2007)

Germany is about 137,000 sq miles. 

Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles.

I'd be comfortable to speculate that there are as many hunters in the United States as there are people in Germany.

The entire hunting population of Germany is so small that this regulated system works.


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