Farmers in Salah al-Din turn to killing wild boars raiding their land

SALAH AL-DIN — Residents and hunters in Salah al-Din are killing wild boars in growing numbers after herds began raiding poultry farms, orchards and cultivated land along the Tigris and in the plains, with the agriculture directorate saying it has no instruction to stop them.

Abbas Taha, the governorate’s director of agriculture, told 964media the animals were multiplying and damaging farmland. “Their numbers are increasing day after day, and they are harming farmers and owners of agricultural land,” he said. Fencing and poison had failed to control them, he said, and boars attacking in herds had assaulted and injured orchard owners. Farmers have been permitted locally to kill them because of the scale of the damage, he said, with no formal decision issued by higher authorities to regulate or reduce the population.

Mohammed Shalhoub, a resident of Ishaqi, said herds were entering farms at night. “They eat poultry, destroy orchards and agricultural land, and cause extensive damage,” he said, adding that the animals had become a danger to residents. Boars enter the Tigris during the day to cool off, he said, which is when residents hunt them. Footage obtained by 964media shows residents hunting boars in the river. Locals say the animals have become common around Samarra, al-Mutasim district and Ishaqi.

Local estimates put the population at about 1,000, up from around 500 two years ago, which residents and agricultural officials attribute to a decline in natural predators and the spread of uncultivated land near the rivers. The animals uproot plants and tree roots, eat grain, wheat and barley, and break farm fences while digging with their snouts and hooves.