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Marco Apollonio and Roberta Chirichella Department of Veterinary Medicine University of Sassari, Italy

First Annual General Meeting of ENETWILD Parma 16-18 January 2018

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2005 - 2015

DATA FROM EUROPEAN COUNTRIES:

Walter Arnold and Friedrich Reimoser (Austria); Jim Casaer (Belgium); Luděk Bartoš(Czeck R.); Krešimir Krapinec (Croatia); Reidar Andersen (Denmark); Tiit Randveer (Estonia); Vesa Ruusila (Finland); Christine Saint-Andrieux (France); Marco Heurich (Germany); Haritakis Papaioannou (Greece); Csányi Sándor (Hungary); Rory Putman and Peter Watson (Ireland and UK); Francesco Riga (Italy); Jānis Ozoliņš (Latvia); Linas Balčiauskas (Lituania); Dime Melovski (Macedonia); Geert W. T. A. Groot Bruinderink (Netherlands); Atle Mysterud (Norway); Tomasz Borowik (Poland); Carlos Fonseca (Portugal); Istvan Szabo (Romania); Milan Paunović (Serbia); Slavomír Find'o (Slovakia); Boštján Pokorny (Slovenia); Juan Carranza (Spain); Göran Ericsson (Sweden); Reinhard Schnidrig-Petrig (Swizerland).

Wild boar distribution in Europe and Near East

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WILD BOAR EXTICTION IN EUROPE

• SWITZERLAND • BALTIC COUNTRIES • SWEDEN • NORWAY • DENMARK • NETHERLANDS • GREAT BRITAIN • SLOVENIA (ALMOST)

Italy (Ghigi A., 1917, 1950)

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Italy (Apollonio. et al., 1988)

Reintroduction restocking Natural immigration

Reintroduction Restocking

Natural immigration Autoctonous restocking Restocking

Autoctonous Restocking

Autoctonous Sus scrofa meridionalis Restocking (with Sus scrofa of Reintroduction different regions) Italy (Apollonio et al., 2010)

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STATUS OF EUROPEAN UNGULATES

wild boar roe deer red deer fallow deer alpine chamois moose mouflon muntjac pyrenan chamois spanish ibex sika deer white tailed deer alpine ibex reindeer chinese water deer wild goat european bison axis deer muskox barbary sheep 0 1000000 2000000 3000000 4000000 5000000 6000000 7000000 8000000 9000000 10000000 Heads

roe deer 54.4%

wild boar 22.8%

red deer 14.4%

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000

Heads (thousands) THESE SPECIES REPRESENT 91,7% OF EUROPEAN UNGULATES

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roe deer 24.1%

wild boar 25.2%

red deer 31.5%

0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 Biomass (ton) THESE SPECIES REPRESENT 81% OF UNGULATE BIOMASS

Wild boar estimated density in Europe

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Wild boar cull density in Europe

2005 – 2015 Hunting bag: increase (in thousands)

+0.4 +0.1 +77.3 +21.3 +33.3 +0.2 +37.2 +0.8 +3.6 +44 +157 +30 +142 +32.6 +4.5 +50.4 +3.6 +1.5 +8 +185 +126.7 +0.5 +19.8

Data from 28 countries

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~ 90 000 ~ 120 000 2005 2015 Harvested animals

Czech Republic 1975-2005 (Bartoš L., 2015)

~ 161 500 ~ 288 000 2005 2015 Harvested animals

Spain (Carranza J., 2015)

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~ 87 000 ~ 137 000 2005 2015 Harvested animals

1960-2005 Hungary (Csányi S., 2015)

Mean snow depth in Timing of ~ 30 ~ 400 mid March the snowmelt 2005 2015 Harvested animals

Finland (Kojola I. and Ruusila V., 2015)

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~ 27 200 ~ 31 700 Wild Boar 35000 2005 2015 30000

25000 Harvested animals

20000

15000

10000

5000

0

8 2 6 0 4 8 2 6 0 4 8 2 6 0 4 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 0 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 19501 1-20051 1 1 1 1 2 Austria

5 E culled losses total + (Reimoser F., 2015)

~ 476 000 ~ 520 600 2005 2015 600000 Harvested animals 500000 500 400000 400 300000 300

Harvest 200000 200 100 100000 Germany 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 197215 17-200219 21 23 25 27 29 31 (Heurich M., 2015)

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~ 136 000 ~ 293 000 2005 2015 Harvested animals 180 160 140 120 100 numbers 80 bag 60 40 20 Poland 0 (Wawrzyniak Jędrzejewski, 1975 1980 1985 199019751995-20052000 2001 2002 2003 Borowik 2015)

> 1 000 000 wild boars at least

~ 93 000 ~ 115 000 ~ 154 000 ? 1998 2005 2009 2015 Harvested animals

Italy (ISPRA, 2015)

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18 countries (1982-2012):

Austria Belgium Croatia Czech Republic France Germany Hungary Italy Latvia Luxembourg Poland Portugal Russia Serbia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland

WHY UNGULATES INCREASED? HUMANS RULE

More than 500 millions vs

Nearly 20 millions

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REASONS OF THE INCREASE OF UNGULATES IN EUROPE

CHANGES IN HUMAN ACTIVITY AND SETTLEMENT RURAL POPULATION

URBAN POPULATION

http://faostat3.fao.org

REASONS OF THE INCREASE OF UNGULATES IN EUROPE

REDUCTION OF AGRICULTURAL AREAS

http://faostat3.fao.org

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REASONS OF THE INCREASE OF UNGULATES IN EUROPE

REDUCTION OF FREE RANGING LIVESTOCK BREEDING

EU: LIVESTOCK (1000 LSU)

2005: 136’829 (80’173 grazing) - 2% - 4%

2010: 134’192 (77’226 grazing)

REASONS OF THE INCREASE OF UNGULATES IN EUROPE

INCREASE OF FORESTS

Development of forest area (ha)

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990

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REASONS OF THE INCREASE OF UNGULATES IN EUROPE

INCREASE OF FORESTS

FOREST EUROPE – UNECE and FAO 2011 – State of Europe’s Forests 2011

THE CASE OF ITALY 1950 Western Alps – landscape modification

Western Alps (Valle d’Aosta) tare) tare)

2000 Forest cover (thousand Forest of hec cover (thousand

(Giunti, 2005; Inventario Forestale Nazionale , 2007)

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THE CASE OF ITALY

Tuscan Apennine – landscape modification 1950

Northern-Central Apennine (Tuscany) hectare) hectare) 2013 Forest cover (thousand Forest of cover (thousand

THE ROLE OF REINTRODUCTIONS

Number of countries with releases (reintroductions) ascertained:

RED DEER: 27 (21) / 28

ROE DEER: 15 (7) / 28

WILD BOAR: 11 (4) / 28

ALPINE CHAMOIS: 10 (6) / 28

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THE ROLE OF PROTECTED AREAS

Cumulative number and surface area of protected areas (39 EEA countries)

WILD BOAR

• A PLASTIC SPECIES

• A PULSE RESOURCE CONSUMER

• A THERMAL SENSITIVE SPECIES

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An adaptable species (1)

An adaptable species (2)

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WILD BOAR DISTRIBTUION AROUND ROME

© Filip Dabrowski

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The role of forest productivity

Seeds density (Mg/ha) of chestnut (Castanea sativa), Turkey oak (Quercus cerris), and beech (Fagus sylvatica) seems to play a key role in population dynamics

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Total number of culled wild boar

Winter snow depth

Turkey oak seed production (Mg)

Turkey oak and chestnut seed production

Chestnut seed production (Mg)

Winter snow depth (cm)

Climate, tree masting and spatial behaviour in wild boar (Sus scrofa L.): insight from a long term study. Bisi F., Chirichella R., Chianucci F., von Hardenberg J., Cutini A., Martinoli A., Apollonio M.

Submitted to Annals of Forest Science

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Where oaks or chestnut are absent, other fruit (like Pistacia lentiscus) can drive wild boar population dynamics

In agricultural areas crops can substitute mast tree as main food item

The increase of mail cultivation in Germany

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Long-term variation in annual temperature in Bialowieza forest, Poland

mean annual temperature 10-year moving average 10

9 ) C o ( e

r 8 u t a r

e 7 x p m e T 6

5 1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

Source: Jędrzejewska and Jędrzejewski (1998)

Densities of ungulates positively correlated with temperature

The strongest relationships were found in:

European bison Wild boar

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60°N 60°N 50°N

50°N

40°N

40°N

30°N

30°N

0°E 10°E 20°E 30°E 40°E 50°E 60°E • 54 locations in western Eurasia analysed based on published sources • Data on vegetation productivity (FPAR index), January temperature, wolf presence/absence

Population density: 0.01–10 inds/km2

Source: Melis C., Szafrańska P., Jędrzejewska B., Bartoń K. (2006) J. Biogeography

Population density of wild boar in relation to mean temperature of January

LogDens = 0.039 Temp + 0.438, N = 54, R2 = 0.736, p = 0.0001 1.2 15

1.0 10 r a o y b ] it

) s 2

d 0.8

l 5 n i m e ) k w 2 /

d f

n m r o (

a

0.6 /k y + o t

i (n 1 b s [

n 2 d il g e o

d 0.4 l

W g

o 1 L 0.2

0 0 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 Mean temperature of January

Source: Melis C., Szafrańska P., Jędrzejewska B., Bartoń K. (2006) J. Biogeography

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Temperate ungulates will profit from temperature increase and will expand their range northwards; alpine and Northern ungulates will suffer from actual loss of suitable habitat and changed environmental conditions

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TUSCANY SUMMER 2017

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Hunting statistics Many countries = Many systems

1. Individual records of all animals harvested by hunting or recorded dead stored directly by hunters in a NATIONAL DATABASE

e.g. Finland, Norway, Slovenia

On-line hunting information system: Slovenia example

 Developed by the Slovene Hunters Association  yearly costs for maintaining: 15,000-30,000 EUR;

 Many essential data for every ungulate shot or died due to any other reasons, available after 2006  species, gender, assessed age, body mass, antler mass, CIC points, health status, veterinarian number, hunter, area, date and hour of cull;

 All data for the animal shot must be put into the system immediately  up to end of the month at the latest;

 On-line availability;

 Spatial information.

Slovenia (Pokorny B., 2016)

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On-line hunting information system: Slovenia example

… also location of the cull in a very high spatial resolution: • in 1 x 1 km grid (2006-2014), • by exact x,y coordinates (since 1 January 2015).

Slovenia (Pokorny B., 2016)

Actual management: hunting statistics Many countries = Many systems 2. Annual (or multi annual) report on a national level, data collected by regional administrations/managing organisations e.g. Austria, Baltics, Belgium (Flanders, not Wallonia for wild boar), Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy (data collection not complete for wild boar), Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden (hunting bag data on a voluntary basis for wild boar), Switzerland

NB • Possible loss of information due to data transfer • Possible uneven data collection among hunting unitis

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THE HUNGARIAN SYSTEM

The Polish example

 Managers of each hunting district report to the regional administration on the numbers (by age and sex) of all harvested and animals found dead

 Records submitted to headquarters of local forest districts

 Data to regional and central headquarters of the Polish Hunting Associaton

 Data to the General Forest Directorate.

Only numbers of culled individuals

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Actual management: hunting statistics Many countries = Many systems

CENTRAL DATABASE

Provincial/Regional administrations, Hunting Associations, Departmental/Regional Hunters’ Federations

Actual management: hunting statistics Many countries = Many systems

3 No national coordination for data collection e.g. Great Britain, Ireland.

4. Neither the hunting groups nor any official authority collect reliable data on annual harversts of wild boar e.g. Greece

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POTENTIAL SOURCES OF VARIABILITY IN THE USE OF HUNTING DATA AS A PROXY OF WILD BOAR ABOUNDANCE

• DIFFERENT HUNTING METHODS

• DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS

• DIFFERENT HUNGING MANAGEMENT POLICIES

Number of wild boar culled by 7 hunting teams in Catenaia Forest (5216 ha) – Drive hunts with dogs 2002- 2003- 2004- 2005- 2006- 2007- year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 mean

n 581 859 300 433 519 903 599

On average 27 hunters and Three hunting session per 19 dogs per hunting session week

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Spanish Monterias – once a year per area, at least 25 dogs up to 100 or more

Central Europe High Seats Hunting all year long

In Germany about 250.000 wild boar are culled by rifle from high seats

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Open season for wild boar hunting

Country Boars Sows Subadults Austria All year All year (except if with piglets) All year Belgium Wallonia 1.01 - 31.12 / 01.10 - 31.12 1.01 - 31.12 / 01.10 - 31.12 1.01 - 31.12 / 01.10 - 31.12 Belgium Flanders 1.10 - 31.12 1.10 - 31.12 1.10 - 31.12 Croatia All year 1.07-31.01 All year Czech 1.08 - 31.12 1.08 - 31.12 All year Denmark 1.10 - 31.01 1.10 - 31.01 1.10 - 31.01 Estonia All year All year All year 1.06 - 29.02 (except if with Finland 1.06 - 29.02 piglets) 15.04 - 14.08 Stalking 15.04 - 14.08 Stalking 15.04 - 14.08 Stalking France 15.08 - 28.02 Driving et al 15.08 - 28.02 Driving et al 15.08 - 28.02 Driving et al 1.03 - 31.03 Coursing 1.03 - 31.03 Coursing 1.03 - 31.03 Coursing Germany 15.06 - 31.01 15.06 – 31.01 15.06 - 31.01 Greece 15.09 - 20.01 15.09 - 20.01 15.09 - 20.01 Hungary All Year 1.05 - 31.12 All Year Italy Third Sunday Sept. - 31.01 Third Sunday Sept. - 31.01 Third Sunday Sept. - 31.01 Latvia 1.05 - 31.01 1.05 - 31.01 1.05 - 31.01 Lithuania 1.05 - 1.03 1.10 - 01.02 1.05 - 1.03 Netherlands 1.07 - 31.01 1.07 - 31.01 1.07 - 31.01 Poland 1.04 - 28.02 15.08 - 15.01 1.04 - 28.02 Portugal All Year All Year All Year Romania 1.08 - 15.02 1.08 - 15.02 1.08 - 15.02 Slovakia 16.07 - 31.12 16.07 - 31.12 16.7 - 31.01 Slovenia 1.04 - 31.01 1.8 - 31.1 All Year Spain 1.10 - 28.02 1.10 - 28.02 1.10 -28.02 Switzerland 1.07 - 31.01 1.07 - 31.01 1.07 - 31.01

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Examples of hunting season for wild boar

No adult No adult J F M A M J J A S O N D females males Austria With piglets C. Republ. Poland France Germany Hungary Italy

Closed hunting season Open hunting season

Survival estimation of radio-collared wild boar From 2002 to 2010, 164 wild boars were radio-tagged in the Alpe di Catenaia ( Tuscan Appenine)

Year Collared Hunted Hunted(%)

2003 37 8 21.6

2004 47 11 23.4

2005 12 2 16.7

2006 28 6 21.4

2007 38 13 34.2

2008 20 8 40.0

2009 18 8 44.4

2010 11 6 54.5

Overall 211 62 29.4

Merli et al. 2017

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Wild Boar Hunting in Sardinia

The case of Sardinia (Italy): 219 small managemement units

Density

Data collected during drive hunts: • Wild boar in the drive • Wild boar killed • Number of hunters • Number of dogs

• Overall ratio WB Hunted/WB Seen = 219 management units, data 0.4 available from 168 of them

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DENSITY DATA

• OFFICIAL NUMBEFRS SOMETIMES STRONGLY UNDERESTIMATED

• DIFFERENT CENSUS METHODS

• LARGE CONFIDENCE INTERVAL

Direct observations

Hungary (Csany S., 2010)

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Alpe di CatenaiaAlpe di Catenaia(Northern Drive Apennine, counts Italy) Drive counts

Davis et al. 2012

CASTELPORZIANO – ITALY Mark-Resight

Focardi & Franzetti

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THANKS FOR ATTENTION

Hunting methods for wild boar:

• DRIVE HUNTS with/without dogs; e.g. France, Greece, Italy • SIT-and-WAIT in a high seat or blind, usually with attractive food; e.g. Germany

even during the dark hours e.g. Slovakia, Sweden • STALKING; It is not the prevailing method in any of the considered countries

• during CONTROL-ACTION (agricultural area). e.g. Finland

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Hunting methods for wild boar:

The most part of considered countries used two prevailing methods, DRIVE HUNTS with dogs and SIT-and-WAIT in a high seat or blind, usually with attractive food.

e.g. Baltics, C. Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland

DRIVE HUNTS (with dogs)

SIT-and-WAIT

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