Awarded the contract to control the presence of wild boars and feral pigs in Malaga city

The City Council of Málaga, through the Environmental Sustainability Area, will enhance the measures that have been applied to reduce the presence of wild boars ... and, predominantly, feral pigs in urban areas near forest spaces of the city, especially in the Este and Ciudad Jardín districts. The goal is to reduce the risk that these animals may pose to the integrity of people, traffic, and public and private property, which will be complemented by coordination with the Junta de Andalucía in reinforcing surveillance and control of these animals as a preventive measure following the confirmed cases of African swine fever in wild boars in Catalonia, which does not affect humans but does impact other wildlife and livestock operations.

For this purpose, the City Council has awarded the execution of this contract to Grupo SCAES-FAC for an amount of 30,000 euros (VAT included) and a duration of one year, extendable for another year, which will continue the actions carried out through previous contracts since September 2024. As in the previous contract, it will be formalized and the service will begin once the renewal of the authorization from the Territorial Delegation of Sustainability and Environment of the Junta de Andalucía for the adoption of wild boar and feral pig damage control measures in certain public hydraulic domain areas of the municipality of Málaga is processed, based on the resolution of December 5 from the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment declaring a temporary hunting emergency due to damage and health risks from these animals in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, in addition to establishing measures leading to the control and possible eradication of feral pig populations, through various modalities and capture procedures.

As stated in the contract specifications, the contractor must increase the prevention and control measures that the City Council has been carrying out in the last year to try to prevent these animals from approaching urban areas, for which the creation of more watering holes and the planting of vegetation for more food in the peri-urban or public-hydraulic domain land is contemplated. Additionally, the monitoring of the different herds will continue, consisting of nocturnal visits to usual places, inspection with thermal cameras, and identification of movements within the urban area, as well as using feeding and monitoring points in coordination with the Environmental Health Surveillance Service of the City Council. Concurrently, the City Council is once again calling on citizens not to feed these animals and reminds them that it is prohibited to leave waste outside of containers.

Captures

The goal is to create a buffer in the city with these preventive measures to prevent their presence in urban areas, although if these deterrent actions prove insufficient, the implementation of captures using bows with arrows and arrows fitted with anesthetic darts will still be considered. In this regard, it should be noted that the use of bows is one of the methods recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Sustainable Development of the Junta de Andalucía.

These captures will preferably be carried out during night vigils, although if conditions require, they can be carried out during daylight hours at times when there is no risk to people nor disturbances or disruptions to public services and normal civic life. For this, the company must have qualified and trained archers who are certified by the Andalusian Hunting Federation, as well as a veterinarian. As indicated when this new contract was tendered, since September 2024, fifty specimens have been captured.