ARCHIVED - Recent wild boar attack at Alicante beach will not be the last warns farmers association
A woman was reportedly bitten by a boar at a beach in Albir, Alicante province, last week
The media has been awash with wild boar sightings and even attacks in recent weeks, including reports of a 67-year-old woman who was bitten by a boar at Racó beach in Albir in the Marina Baixa area of Alicante province.
According to the Emergency Service of the Generalitat Valenciana, the boar suddenly appeared from the water and, possibly frightened and disoriented, appeared to charge at crowds leaving a woman requiring treatment to a leg wound.
Now the Valencian Farmers' Association (AVA-ASAJA) has warned that the incident "will not be the last" and stressed that the overpopulation of wildlife causes 300 accidents a year on the region's roads with nine out of 10 of them caused by wild boar.
"This recent incident highlights the social problem of wildlife overpopulation. The attack is one more of many and unfortunately it will not be the last if we do not act against the excessive and uncontrolled increase in wild boar and other wild species," argued AVA-ASAJA.
The agricultural organisation is urging local, provincial and regional administrations to implement measures that allow for "a reasonable presence of wild animals that is compatible with the development of agricultural activity and people's health".
AVA-ASAJA president, Cristóbal Aguado, warned: "For years these incidents have occurred in fields, on housing estates and even in urban centres, and there are continually traffic accidents caused by these animals which, despite what some people think, are not companion animals, but wild and sometimes dangerous.
The association estimates that the overpopulation of wildlife (wild boar, mountain goats, roe deer, wild rabbits, birds, etc.) caused "unprecedented losses of 35 million euros" within the region's agricultural sector in 2021.
Wild boar are responsible for "attacking farmers in their orchards, transmitting diseases, breaking drip lines and agricultural installations, biting tree trunks, branches and shoots, moving earth, and destroying walls," said Aguado, who added: "It is time for politicians to carry out an in-depth analysis of the effects of wild animals because they are playing with the economy, the environment and people's health."
Images: YouTube/La Asociación Valenciana de Agricultores (AVA-ASAJA)
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