The wild boar has the scientific name of Sus scrofa and is a mammal belonging to the Suidae family, which it shares with pigs and corresponds to the genus Sus. Wild boars are native to Europe, Asia and some areas of Africa. However, they have also been introduced in various countries of America, in Australia and various islands on the planet.
Unfortunately, given their high reproductive capacity, they have become an invasive and harmful exotic species, since they cause serious problems to the soil in search of its food, which affects the development of crops, and on the other hand it actually damages certain plantations by feeding on them or their seeds. This time, on our site, we want to give you some ideas on how to drive away wild boars, so we invite you to continue reading this interesting and educational article.
Characteristics of wild boars
Wild boars are a social group, which are made up of a matriarchal structure, managing to move in considerable areas, except when the females they are brewing During these movements, they are active looking for food, which is composed mainly of plant matter. However, they are also opportunistic, so they can consume certain types of invertebrates (insects and crayfish) and some types of vertebrates (amphibians and small mammals).
Both seeds and certain animals they feed on are buried in the ground, and wild boars are excellent rooters, that is, they remove the soil with their snout in order to obtain their food. This rooting procedure ends up leaving the soil uncovered or unprotected due to the erosion caused, and affects the growth of certain plant species. On the other hand, by consuming large quantities of seeds, they reduce the growth of crops, which generates damage to certain plantations of human interest.
Wild boars, in general, have widely distributed populations, and in some cases show signs that they will continue to grow. Their high reproductive capacity is due to three aspects: they are early to reach sexual maturity, they have a relatively short gestation period and a high average number of offspring, so that the detrimental impacts on plantations, which have been described, are produced by a significant amount and on a recurring basis because of these animals.
It has been proven that areas with sufficient food availability, such as acorns and other forest fruits, have a positive effect on wild boar reproduction, resulting in more pregnant females and, therefore,, larger offspring per litter. On the contrary, in times of drought, the reproductive act is mainly restricted to the leading females.
Sounds and ultrasounds to scare away wild boars
Wild boars do not have very good vision, although they do have a good sense of smell and, above all, an excellent hearing system In this sense, the installation of a sound player with speakers can be quite useful in large areas that are harmed by the presence of these animals.
Sounds or boar scare alarms could consist of:
- Barking of hunting dogs.
- Shotgun shots.
- Distress calls from a boar itself
- People talking in a loud voice.
Being quite sensitive to sounds, all these recordings could scare them and end up driving them away. It is important that these devices play the selected sounds automatically and every so often.
However, if you prefer, you will also find ultrasound equipment on the market to scare away wild boars, although if you are looking for a powerful device, it could be a bit expensive.
Physical repellents for boars
In areas that are not so large, physical barriers can be used to prevent wild boars from accessing the space to be protected, so the installation of fences can be highly effective in these cases to prevent the access of these animals.
It is important to bear in mind that fences must be resistant and made of a material that withstands environmental conditions, thus ensuring that this option is durable and is maintained over time.
Homemade repellents for wild boars
As we have mentioned, wild boars have a quite sensitive sense of smell, so we can prepare some homemade repellents with unpleasant odors for wild boars. One of them is human odor, which quickly drives them away, so an effective way to scare them away can be collecting human hairin a barbershop and spread them around the areas they usually frequent.
Another option is to formulate a homemade repellent for wild boars based on food that is unpleasant for them As they have a very good memory, every time they smell that food, they will associate it with its bad taste, and that will drive them away. To achieve this, a cereal can be mixed with some type of animal oil, such as fish oil, then small croquettes are formed and spread in the areas where wild boars usually enter or around the crops to encourage consumption of the preparation before to get to the plantation.
It has also been reported that wild boars avoid places where they perceive the scent of animals such as dogs or wolves, so in areas of little extension, having dogs and allowing them to urinate in the surroundings could scare these animals away.
Boars have interbred in some areas with domestic pigs, especially the males, since the females avoid the pigs, giving rise to hybrids such as the pig that have increased part of the previously mentioned problem. However, one important aspect must be kept in mind, which is that these animals seek their reproduction and maintenance as any other species does.
In the past, wild boars were highly pressured by hunting and fragmentation of their habitat, which ended up displacing them from their natural spaces. In this sense, we humans are often responsible for altering the population habits of species, and then when they cause us problems, we try to control their growth with lethal or unethical strategies. Therefore, if we are the ones who caused the problem, we must look for non-aggressive solutions and not harmful to animals, which is now possible thanks to the advancement of science.
