Roving boar reach Jurmala

Take note – story published 8 years ago

The Jūrmala City Council, like its counterpart in the nation’s capital, is trying to tackle the wild boar problem, which has now also landed on its own municipal agenda, reported Latvian Radio Tuesday.

As Edgars Kupčs found out at the town council, local residents witnessed at least three, possibly four wild boar roaming the wooded neighborhoods and dune parks of the beach-community last week.

Now the city’s committees for Hunting Coordination and Safety and Public Order will be mulling what to do about the nuisance at Wednesday’s scheduled meeting.  

Jurmala’s municipal Environment Department head Jānis Artemjevs told LR that allowing the boar to get used to life in town would be unacceptable. He suggested the two to four specimens that were sighted last week strayed in “by mistake”, by either swimming across the Lielupe river which otherwise acts as a natural barrier to the town, or from some adjacent forest. So far no incidents of wild boar encounters with residents or their pets have been reported.

Now the committee is urging residents to notify the authorities of any sightings so that the situation can be adequately monitored.

The main thing, Artemjevs pointed out, is not to let them adapt to life in the urban environment "so they don’t naturally start making themselves at home here.”

As reported, Riga City Council is also facing a current infestation of wild boar, mostly in its outlying neighborhoods like Jugla. However, a recent incident involving a pair of boars downtown required municipal police and a veterinary support team to tranquilize and remove them beyond city limits.

Meanwhile the Twitter account of The Riga Wild Boar posted a smug plug for the many amenities of life in the beach-lined resort town, even boasting that many 'extras' there were available 'free-of-charge'.

The Delfi news portal's eyewitness video section on May 18 featured some dash-cam footage of two of Jūrmala's wild boar scampering along a bungalow-lined residential sidewalk before suddenly dashing across traffic.

 

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