Kontsiotis Vasileios J, Polychronidis Apostolos, Liordos Vasilios
Department of Forest and Natural Environment Sciences, Democritus University of Thrace, P.O. Box 172, 66100 Drama, Greece.
Animals (Basel). 2024 Jun 30;14(13):1940. doi: 10.3390/ani14131940.
The wild boar () is a widespread ungulate, the populations of which have recently increased throughout most of its range. This increase has caused negative impacts on ecosystems, biodiversity, and society. Nowadays, the wild boar is considered both a valuable game and a pest. Wildlife managers need to know the habits and motivations of wild boar hunters, a key stakeholder group, for effectively managing this controversial mammal. We carried out face-to-face interviews with 134 wild boar hunters in the Evros Prefecture, in the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, northern Greece to determine their hunting habits and their motivation for hunting. Most hunters owned a hunting dog (84.3%), hunted in groups of eight to nine people for 48 days, traveled 60 km, stayed outdoors for 4 nights, and spent weekly EUR 61 on average in each hunting season. Two motivations for wild boar hunting were prominent among the hunters (assessed on a 5-point scale; 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree): a strong recreation motivation (hunting as a recreational activity; mean score 4.159 ± 1.144 SD) and a considerable utility motivation (hunting for its use values; 3.404 ± 1.11). Both recreation and utility motivations were positively associated with the preference for further increases in wild boar populations. Sociodemographic characteristics and hunting habits variously affected motivations and preferred future population trends. The findings revealed specific habits and strong motivations among hunters. Such findings will be useful for designing and implementing education and outreach programs for informing hunters about the negative impacts of wild boars and the need for their control. The participation of hunters in the management process will be critical for its success.
野猪（）是一种分布广泛的有蹄类动物，其种群数量最近在其大部分分布范围内都有所增加。这种增长对生态系统、生物多样性和社会造成了负面影响。如今，野猪既被视为一种有价值的猎物，也被视为一种有害动物。野生动物管理者需要了解野猪猎人这一关键利益相关群体的习惯和动机，以便有效管理这种颇具争议的哺乳动物。我们对希腊北部东马其顿和色雷斯地区埃夫罗斯州的134名野猪猎人进行了面对面访谈，以确定他们的狩猎习惯和狩猎动机。大多数猎人拥有一只猎犬（84.3%），以八到九人的群体形式狩猎48天，出行60公里，在户外停留4晚，每个狩猎季节平均每周花费61欧元。在猎人中，野猪狩猎的两个动机最为突出（采用五分制评分；1 = 强烈反对至5 = 强烈同意）：强烈的娱乐动机（将狩猎作为一种娱乐活动；平均得分4.159 ± 1.144标准差）和相当大的实用动机（为其使用价值而狩猎；3.404 ± 1.11）。娱乐动机和实用动机都与对野猪种群进一步增加的偏好呈正相关。社会人口特征和狩猎习惯对动机和未来偏好的种群趋势有不同程度的影响。研究结果揭示了猎人的特定习惯和强烈动机。这些发现将有助于设计和实施教育及宣传项目，以告知猎人野猪的负面影响以及控制野猪的必要性。猎人参与管理过程对其成功至关重要。
