Signs of Wild Boars on the Farm

Wild boars (Sus scrofa), have an almost global distribution, and are one of the most commonly encountered wild mammals in SE Asia. Their success is a clear indication of their adaptability, an in particular their ability to thrive in environments disturbed by humans.

You can see nice pictures of the Malaysian wild boar at http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/mammals/wild_pig.htm

In the farming community boars are rather feared visitor, mainly because of their habit of digging up and destroying new plants. The problem is made worse by the habit of boars to travel in family groups (known as “sounders”), thus the damage caused is multiplied by the numbers arriving at the farm. I’ve heard that boars are attracted mainly to new plantings where their habit of digging & “rooting” will cause complete destruction of the plants.

Despite their potential threat to agriculture, boars are considered an important part of the natural environment, thus deserve some degree of protection. I know that in Malaysia they serve as a food source for many higher predators, including tigers.

Some people advocate trapping or shooting of boars in farm areas, but these seem difficult to implement, and in SE Asian conditions seem unlikely to reduce the risks sufficiently, as there is a seemingly inexhaustible.

Agricultural boar damage seems effectively prevented by the installation of fencing. The fence deign seems to be important for success in mitigation. Boars seem good at digging entrances to the farm by burrowing under the fence, thus it seems helpful to include a sub-soil-level berm (best out of concrete) in order to make it difficult (although still technically possible) for them to get under.

Some people advocate deployment of electric fences, but I’ve not yet seen these work well in-practice.

Installation of pig-proof fences are a quite a high expense, so many of the farmers and a lot of the plantation companies install less expensive deep-ditches instead. There are various opinions on the effectiveness of ditches, but again it seems that design is important. Boars seem to be able to jump quite far to cross a ditch, and also seem adept at climbing seemingly vertical walls of soil.

Last week I was out with my friend and fellow- naturalist Vincent, who took me to some of the Lanchang farm areas where wild boars were commonly seen in the evenings (see video below). We looked at boar foot prints (pic at top of blog) , and checked out the mud “wallowing hole" (photo below) that the boars made, and inspected the ditches that they managed to cross over.

Despite their reputation and the potential hazards (including risk of attacks to workers) I think they are interesting animals to have around, and I would definitely like to learn more about their ecology.