The Mossos d'Esquadra reported an incident this Tuesday that, luckily, ended without major injuries. A herd of wild boars had caused a traffic accident the previous night on the AP-7 motorway in the Gironès county. There were no injuries, but firefighters had to attend to the drivers of a car and a truck that had collided with the animals. Five boars had died. It is not the first time that a traffic accident of this nature has occurred, as it is increasingly common to find these animals outside their natural habitat, in search of food that they cannot find in the forests where they always they had taken refuge and that they have been gradually abandoning for years. This means that they are visible in many cities in Catalonia, not only on the outskirts but also right in the urban heart.
This news has coincided with another story that also affects wild boars. The Catalan department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda has declared what is referred to as a "hunting emergency" in the Gavarres and Rocacorba massifs. The decision affects 38 municipalities in the counties of the Gironès, Baix Empordà, Pla de l'Estany and one in the Garrotxa. In total, 87,841 hectares of forest mass with a high density of wild boars and where the intense drought this year has caused real havoc. There is also a huge concern that the animal infestations can spread. According to data from 2019, there were around 200,000 wild boars in Catalonia, a figure that has not been updated, but which will undoubtedly have grown significantly.
This weekend, a Pyrenean farmer, angry and irritated, explained to me that, in his opinion, it is only now that there is concern in the offices of Barcelona when those on the land have for years been denouncing the danger posed by allowing the population to spread and not adopting any measure to control the increase. He had no doubt that this situation could have been turned around long ago, but he remembered that quite recently there were people who found it mildly amusing to see wild boars foraging in containers and even brought food to them. Much of the damage now comes from that frivolity and ignorance, with the situation now having more of the characteristics of a plague that is spreading everywhere.
The AP-7 accident had a happy ending beyond the material wreckage. But this will not always be the case, as wild boars do not usually move one at a time and are heavy beasts. Thus, for a vehicle at normal driving speed on the highway and at night, an accident is guaranteed and the driver's margin for reaction is very tight. We will carrying on seeing this, since at the moment, control of the propagation is non-existent and these animals need to make long journeys to feed. Today it is 38 Catalan municipalities that are affected, but this will go only grow and you only need to make a cross-country journey and talk to the farmers to find out how they feel about this as they lose harvests and feel helpless.