Following reports that the Department of Environment is set to issue hunting permits for wild hogs in contradiction with its avowed policy of protecting wildlife, a senior official at the DOE recently addressed the issues raised in the media.
Ali Teymouri, director of the Hunting and Fishing Office at the DOE, announced that hunters will receive permits after the annual surveillance and monitoring studies are conducted on the population of hogs in different reserves and habitats, ISNA reported.
Wild boars, or hogs, possess a number of biological and behavioral traits that enable them to live just about anywhere and quickly populate new areas. They are omnivorous (eat all kinds of foods, both plants and animals) and referred to by ecologists as a generalist species that is highly adaptable.
Teymouri said they can damage an otherwise fertile land and groundcover vegetation and leave the area looking like a plowed field.
According to recent statistics, the population of wild hogs in Iran is high and growing day-by-day.
Wild hogs breed year round, but births peak in spring and fall. A sow will give birth to anywhere from one to a dozen piglets.
“In some habitats, their numbers exceed normal figures, which can severely impact the environment and the ecosystems it supports,” he said.
The official explained that they also pose a threat to irrigation systems, disturb ecological balance in habitats, reduce other animals’ food sources (because of being omnivorous) and invade waterholes and turn them to mud pools, which endangers the lives of other animals in the area.
“Readily accessible food sources in farmlands and orchards attract hogs, making them attack the private properties,” he said. “With plenty of food to go around, the animals will breed uncontrollably.”
Teymouri said by issuing hunting permits to both Iranian and foreign hunters, the DOE aims to control the population of the species.
“Indifference toward the growing population of hogs by the department will most likely lead to untrained villagers and farmers taking matters into their own hands,” he said.
