Mijas hires private company to cull wild boar in bid to control population

A few days ago the news was that wild boar had entered the Miramar shopping centre in Fuengirola, a municipality which is literally next door to Mijas. Only a few days before, also in Fuengirola, the neighbours complained that they could not go to the park with their children because of the constant presence of wild boar. In the many residential developments in Mijas there are constant complaints from people because day in and day out the wild boar enter and roam freely, destroying gardens and fences.

And that is not to mention the risks to road traffic posed by their presence, since the A-7 motorway runs very close to all these urban areas through which they usually pass.

This has long been the reality facing Mijas and other municipalities on the Costa del Sol, where the uncontrolled population of wild boar and feral pigs is becoming a major problem. It is in this context that Mijas town hall has decided to revive the system of 'capturaderos', that is, the installation of cages at strategic points in the municipality, to capture these animals alive and then shoot them in a safe environment. This system was already in place in Mijas in 2023 but in 2024 it was stopped and now, in 2025, it has been resumed.

The town hall has just awarded the service to a specialised company, namely the wildlife control company Adda Ops SA, for an amount of 150,000 euros (IVA sales tax included) for a period of one year, which can be extended for three years with a budget of 100,000 euros for each extra year.

As a result, the capture points will be installed in Calahonda, in Arroyo de la Cala, by the old Club la Costa and on the Carretera de Mijas, among other points. All of these are areas where these animals usually pass through.

"At the moment the Junta de Andalucía is offering us two solutions to a problem that is already widespread: the installation of capture sites at strategic points or hunting with archers. We have avoided the archers and have opted for this option to try to control the population of an invasive species that is having an exponential growth, as each year they are capable of multiplying by three or four," said the councillor for animal welfare, Marco Cortés, during the tendering process for the contract.

Recently the council also announced the launch of a public awareness campaign to prevent people from feeding the wild boar. "Feeding wild animals is not natural. Offering them food is a risk for everyone, it alters the way they relate to their environment, promotes their multiplication, imbalance in the ecosystem, transmission of diseases and even the disappearance of other species. It puts people, pets and motorists at risk". This is part of the message that Mijas town hall is launching through its citizen information channels and through the media.

The campaign also reminds that feeding these animals is a breach of the local byelaws, which can be punished with fines of up to 750 euros.

Since the beginning of the process of awarding the capture system, the municipality's animal protection organisations have expressed their rejection of the system, and have opted for other measures that they consider to be less aggressive and more "effective", such as chemical castration of these animals.