2025 wild boar cull quota 28 percent met, hunters confident can be fulfilled
The wild boar culling quota for the 2025 season is over a quarter fulfilled with around 5,000 animals slaughtered as of August 25, Maaleht reported.
This year's cull of 18,000 wild boar is particularly pressing as it forms part of an effort to stem the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF), which has blighted pig farming in Estonia and led to the slaughter of over 20,000 domestic pigs so far this summer.
A board member of the Estonian hunters' society, Priit Vahtramäe, said that hunters are actively working to curb the spread of swine fever, adding that there is a strong likelihood that the established hunting quota will be fulfilled by the end of the season.
Vahtramäe noted hunters in Harju, Järva, Rapla and Viljandi counties as well as on Hiiumaa are hunting actively, adding he remains positive about the hopes that different support measures will be implemented quickly, and that hunting will intensify.
A total of 57 percent of hunted boar are adults, while 33 percent are juveniles, while the share of sows among the adults hunted is 37 percent.
The largest proportion of wild boar have been hunted in Saaremaa, with as much as 27 percent of the total slaughter done there, despite ASF not having been detected on the island.
The culling is in fact focusing on areas away from the ASF hotspots, precisely to curb the spread.
For the same reason, fewer wild boar are being culled in southeast Estonia, namely Võru, Valga and Põlva counties, as ASF has already caused major devastation in that region.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
