Delete
Wild boars in a playground in Fuengirola. SUR
Mijas asks for collaboration to reduce wild boar population: 'Feeding them puts everyone at risk'
Environment

Mijas asks for collaboration to reduce wild boar population: 'Feeding them puts everyone at risk'

The town hall has launched an awareness campaign, reminding people that the penalty for feeding wild animals can be up to 750 euros

Monday, 3 February 2025, 19:08

"Feeding wild animals is not natural. Offering them food poses a risk to everyone, alters the way they relate to their environment, promotes their multiplication, creates an imbalance in the ecosystem, increases the transmission of diseases and even the disappearance of other species. It puts people, pets and drivers at risk," states the town hall of Mijas in a campaign that aims to inform of the dangers of the growing population of wild boar and to ask residents for cooperation.

The recently launched campaign's main objective is to stop people feeding wild boar and feral pigs. This way, the town hall hopes to tackle one of the many causes that have led to increasing numbers of these animals being drawn to the municipalities along the Costa del Sol - an issue which has become a question of public health and safety.

"We have to make it clear that, despite what it may seem, they are wild animals that should not be fed under any circumstances. Feeding them alters their natural cycle and brings them closer to urban centres, which poses a danger to everybody," said Mijas councillor for the environment, Marco Cortés.

Sanctions

The campaign states that feeding the animals is in breach of article 86.2 of the Ordenanza de Convivencia Ciudadana y Seguridad, which specifically bans the feeding of stray or abandoned animals, or any other animal, in public spaces such as plots of land or buildings, when it could turn them into a source of unhealthy conditions or generate dirt or nuisance. According to this ordinance, fines can reach up to 750 euros, although the truth is that Mijas town hall has only fined one citizen for feeding wild boar. It happened several months ago and the fine was 250 euros.

The town hall has stated that the increased presence of these wild animals in urban areas "entails a safety risk and causes a deterioration of public spaces and urban hygiene". Mijas authorities have also pointed out that, according to experts, these wild animals can transmit zoonotic diseases (salmonellosis, biovar 2 brucellosis, hepatitis E) and are also transmitters of diseases common to domestic livestock (porcine pleuropneumonia, porcine circovirus type 2, porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome, enzootic pneumonia, lymphadenitis), hunting dogs (Aujeszky's disease) and other wildlife species (tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium avium complex, trichinellosis, etc.).

"We are talking about serious diseases, so we all have to be aware that these are not animals under veterinary control, but wild animals," said Cortés.

Esta funcionalidad es exclusiva para registrados.

Reporta un error en esta noticia

* Campos obligatorios

surinenglish Mijas asks for collaboration to reduce wild boar population: 'Feeding them puts everyone at risk'