Wild boar populations have expanded dramatically across Europe. Their ecological role, welfare needs and the conflicts they generate require balanced management approaches.
Wild boar welfare is affected by hunting pressure, disease and human conflict. Wounding rates from hunting are significant - boar are resilient animals that frequently survive shots placed non-lethally. African swine fever causes acute illness and death in infected animals. The expansion of boar into suburban areas brings them into conflict situations that typically end in lethal control. Individual boar involved in agricultural damage or attacks on people are killed without welfare considerations that would apply to managed animals. The expansion of boar populations represents ecological recovery that benefits multiple species through the rooting and soil disturbance boar create, but individual animals in conflict situations face welfare-relevant threats that require humane management approaches.