Wild boar populations are expanding into urban and suburban areas across Europe and North America, creating conflict and welfare challenges for both boar and humans.
Wild boar living in and around urban areas face a paradox: successful enough to thrive near humans but subject to lethal control when conflicts arise. Culling programs that kill individual animals do not address the habitat and food attractants that draw boar to urban areas, and surviving animals quickly fill the gaps. Welfare-positive management focuses on removing attractants, installing deterrence, and using fertility control where feasible. Animals involved in acute conflicts face inhumane deaths from poorly placed shots or poisoning. A comprehensive urban wildlife welfare approach treats boar as members of the urban ecosystem requiring management rather than removal.