Wild boar Switzerland: Recreational hunting exacerbates the problem

Wild boar populations have been rising across Europe for decades, and recreational hunting has intensified in parallel. Even so, the population has not been brought down. This dossier shows why the logic of hunting leads to a dead end with wild boars, and why recreational hunting itself is among the main causes of the population explosion.

Profile

The wild boar (Sus scrofa) belongs to the family of true pigs (Suidae) and is the ancestor of the domestic pig. It is a highly social, intelligent and adaptable animal that lives in family sounders. In Switzerland, the wild boar was almost wiped out in the 19th century and only spread again in the 20th century. Today it mainly inhabits north-western Switzerland, Zurich and Ticino, and is increasingly moving into other parts of the country.

Biology and social behaviour

Wild boars live in matriarchal family sounders led by an experienced lead sow. The lead sow knows the best feeding and resting places, avoids sources of danger and coordinates the behaviour of the entire sounder. Males (boars) are driven out of the group as yearlings (Überläufer) and usually live as solitary animals thereafter. Only during the mating season (rut) do older boars temporarily join a sounder.

The wild boar is an omnivore with a marked preference for acorns, beechnuts, insect larvae, roots and agricultural crops such as maize. It is predominantly nocturnal, a behavioural adaptation that is largely due to disturbance caused by recreational hunting.

Reproductive biology

Wild boars are so-called r-strategists: they respond to favourable living conditions with a rapid rise in offspring numbers. In mast years (heavy acorn and beechnut crops), reproduction jumps sharply. A sow can reach sexual maturity at less than a year old and give birth to four to eight piglets per litter, in exceptional cases up to twelve. Whether it is mainly the lead sow that reproduces in undisturbed sounders is disputed in the research. What is well documented, however, is that sows under heavy hunting pressure reach sexual maturity earlier and begin reproducing at a younger age (Servanty et al. 2009, Journal of Animal Ecology).

The population explosion: causes and misinterpretations

The figures

Kill figures for wild boars in Switzerland have risen many times over since 1970: from 60 to 9,280 animals killed in 2025, with the peak year being 2021 at 12,974. In 2025 a further 1,654 special culls were added, bringing the total to 10,934 wild boars killed, more than two and a half times as many as in 2000 (4,160). Wild boar damage added up to around 4.1 million francs in 2025 and has fluctuated between 2.7 and 4.3 million francs a year since 2016, with no decline (Hunting statistics 2000 to 2025). In 2025 it was highest in Vaud (866,597 francs), Aargau (520,470) and Jura (453,256), mainly affecting maize, grassland and vines (Swiss Hunting Statistics 2025).

The standard explanation

The recreational hunting lobby explains rising populations by pointing to climate change and mild winters, more frequent mast years due to more beech and oak trees, the abundant food supply provided by agriculture, and the wild boar's natural adaptability.

All of this is true. But the decisive factor is missing: the role of recreational hunting itself.

The lead sow question: how recreational hunting fuels reproduction

A much-discussed hypothesis about wild boar dynamics concerns the function of the lead sow. According to this hypothesis, in intact sounders the lead sow regulates the reproduction of lower-ranking sows through pheromones and social hierarchy. If she is shot by recreational hunters, the sounder is said to break up, and the younger sows, including yearling sows (one-year-olds), come into heat as well. In this blanket form, the hypothesis is disputed in the research. What is well documented, however, is the link between heavy hunting pressure and early reproduction.

A long-term French study by Sabrina Servanty and colleagues (2009, Journal of Animal Ecology) examined the reproduction of a heavily hunted wild boar population in the département of Haute-Marne over 22 years. Under high hunting pressure, even young and light sows reproduce, and the share of young animals in reproduction is high. A follow-up study (Servanty et al. 2011, Journal of Applied Ecology) compared a heavily hunted and a lightly hunted population: in the heavily hunted one, the generation time was only 2.3 years, compared with 3.6 years in the lightly hunted one, because the animals began reproducing earlier. The authors conclude that higher mortality in a single age class does not necessarily limit population growth. Andrea Mazzatenta of the University of Teramo, drawing on official Italian data, describes how sustained hunting pressure leads wild boars to produce earlier and more frequent litters (Mazzatenta 2026, Conservation). The studies are listed on our studies page Hunting Fact Check.

The wildlife biologist Ulf Hohmann of the Research Institute for Forest Ecology and Forestry in Rhineland-Palatinate concludes that the thesis of social reproductive suppression by lead sows, in the blanket form in which it circulates among recreational hunters, is untenable. For the criticism of recreational hunting this changes little: the documented effect of hunting pressure on early reproduction remains.

More on this: Science: Hunting makes the species multiply and Contraceptives for wild boars

The problem of baiting

In many cantons and neighbouring countries, luring wild boars with food (baiting) is a common hunting practice. Although baiting allows targeted kills, it is counterproductive: for the most part, lone boars and young animals approaching the bait are shot, rather than the sows that are relevant for reproduction. The additional food supply eliminates natural winter mortality, boosts reproduction and also affects other wild animal species such as roe deer and badgers. Baiting is thus a prime example of how recreational hunting aggravates the very problem it claims to solve. More on this in the article Wild boar sterilisation: when recreational hunting fails because of its own shortcomings.

The logic of damage: who profits, who pays?

Wildlife damage

Wild boar damage in agriculture is real and burdensome for the farmers affected. Annual damage totals per canton are often in the six-figure range. Remarkably, per square kilometre of cantonal area, Basel-Landschaft (CHF 549) and Jura (CHF 540) reported higher damage in 2025 than Geneva (around CHF 437), the only canton without recreational hunting (Swiss Hunting Statistics 2025). The damage mainly affects maize fields, grassland and vineyards. The question is not whether damage occurs, but whether recreational hunting is the right answer to it.

What really works

The most effective measure against wild boar damage is the electric fence, put up early and properly maintained. This method is tried and tested and recommended by the authorities. A drawback is large-scale fencing, which impairs the connectivity of wildlife habitats. In the long term, a stable, intact sounder structure would help more than permanent hunting pressure.

More on this: Dossier: Hunting and Animal Welfare and Dossier: Wildlife corridors and habitat connectivity

The ethical dimension

Driven hunts: terrorising the forest with stress

In Switzerland, wild boars are frequently hunted in driven hunts with dogs. Entire woodland areas are thrown into turmoil for hours. Beaters and dogs flush the animals out of their cover and drive them past lines of shooters. The risk of missing a fleeing wild boar is high, and so are the rates of follow-up searches. For the animals, driven hunts mean extreme stress, and not just for wild boars but for every forest dweller.

Hunting of piglets

In some cantons, piglets may be shot with buckshot. The killing of animals only a few months old is declared as population control, but is ethically highly questionable. Piglets that lose their mother die in many cases.

Night hunting and permanent disturbance

Because wild boars are predominantly nocturnal, a large share of recreational hunting takes place in the dark, using night vision devices, floodlights and thermal imaging cameras. Since the revision of the Hunting Ordinance of 1 February 2025, a night hunting ban does apply in forests, but the cantons may provide for exceptions to prevent wildlife damage (Art. 3^ter JSV). This permanent disturbance drives the animals into ever more remote areas and increases pressure on the remaining refuges.

The vicious circle of recreational hunting

The dynamics of the wild boar can be summed up as a vicious circle: recreational hunters increase hunting pressure. Sows begin breeding earlier, the generation time shortens, and the population keeps growing. Crop damage rises, and the call for more recreational hunting grows louder. More recreational hunting destabilises the sounders further. And so on.

This mechanism, compensatory reproduction under hunting pressure, is particularly pronounced in the wild boar because, as an r-strategist, it is evolutionarily programmed to respond to increased mortality with maximum reproduction. More kills therefore do not lead to fewer wild boars. The kill figures of the past 50 years and the persistently high levels of damage prove this.

More on this: Hunting Fact Check and Despite More Kills: Wild Boar Damage Remains High

What needs to change

Protecting lead sows: The lead sow guides the sounder and knows its feeding and resting places. Killing her tears apart established social structures. A ban on killing lead sows is a requirement of animal welfare and a contribution to more stable sounders.
Ban on bait stations: Attractant feeding eliminates natural winter mortality, boosts reproduction and means that mainly animals that are irrelevant to reproduction (boars, yearlings) are killed. Bait stations are counterproductive and must be banned.
Prioritising preventive measures: Electric fences, adapted crop rotations and a spatial separation of farmland and wildlife habitats are more effective than intensifying recreational hunting. The cost calculation favours prevention, not killing.
Large-scale quiet zones: Stable sounder structures form in undisturbed areas. The permanent, continuous disturbance caused by recreational hunting prevents precisely this stabilisation.
Professional wildlife management: Wild boar regulation must be handed over to professional wildlife wardens, who intervene in a targeted, planned and expert manner, without further driving the cycle of disturbance, sounder breakdown and compensatory reproduction.

Talking points

“Without intensive hunting, wild boar populations would explode completely.” Kill figures have risen from 60 to over 9,000 per year since 1970, yet damage has not fallen. Population ecology shows that intensive hunting triggers earlier reproduction and rejuvenates the population. Recreational hunting creates the very problem it claims to solve.

“The damage proves that more must be shot.” The damage caused by wildlife is real, but recreational hunting is not the answer. Electric fences are demonstrably more effective than kills. Although more than two and a half times as many wild boars are killed today as in 2000, the damage has not fallen. Geneva, without recreational hunting, reports less wild boar damage per area than Basel-Landschaft or the Jura.

«The lead sow theory is a myth, so hunting does no harm.» Even those who doubt the blanket lead sow theory cannot get around the documented finding: under heavy hunting pressure, wild boars reproduce earlier. The 22-year study by Servanty et al. (2009, Journal of Animal Ecology) and the population comparison by Servanty et al. (2011, Journal of Applied Ecology) show that under intensive hunting the generation time shortens from 3.6 to 2.3 years.

«Wild boars are nocturnal, so night hunting is necessary.» The wild boar's nocturnal activity is largely an adaptation to human disturbance. A meta-analysis of 76 studies shows that wild animals markedly increase their nocturnal activity under human influence (Gaynor et al. 2018, Science). Night hunting combats a symptom that recreational hunting itself causes.

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Our Standard

The wild boar is not a pest. It is a highly intelligent, socially living wild animal that has belonged to Europe's forests for millennia. The fact that populations are rising despite massive hunting is not an argument for more recreational hunting, but striking proof that recreational hunting is the wrong tool. Population ecology shows that intensive hunting triggers earlier reproduction and rejuvenates the population. Anyone who wants to reduce wildlife damage must ban baiting, prioritise prevention and reduce hunting pressure. A shift towards professional wildlife management is not radical, but an adaptation to the current state of science. This dossier is updated continuously as new figures, studies or political developments require.

More on the topic of recreational hunting: in our hunting dossier we bring together fact checks, analyses and background reports.