BRUSSELS – Belgium’s wild boar population is starting to cause serious problems for the country’s farmers, Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique reported Thursday.

For most of the past twenty years or so, the numbers of wild boars living in forests in French speaking Wallonia has remained relatively stable. But recently the feral porcine population has enjoyed a baby boom.

Belgian forestry experts say a number of factors are behind the increase in wild boar numbers. Firstly, the spate of mild winters Belgium has enjoyed recently has seen fewer young animals dying from the cold.

In addition the increase in the number of hectares of maize – a favourite food for boar – planted in Belgium has also helped swell the wild pig population.

Farmers complain that the boars are decimating fields of crops. They are also starting to stray into residential areas where they cause problems such as rooting in people’s gardens.

Experts estimate that Belgium’s wild boar population increased by nearly 6,000 between 1998 and 2000, reported the Libre Belgique.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Belgian news