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In China, wild boar hunters who have become social media stars
On a freezing night in the Qinling Mountains in northern China, a group of hunters roam a steep slope in search of wild boars that are terrorizing the local population. The country has some two million wild boars, some of which have spread the panic in 2024, leaving at least two dead and several injured. Some local governments are now promising rewards of up to 3,000 yuan (397 euros) to hunters like Li Shangxue and his associates. His group, the “City Hunters”, established in Weinan in Shaanxi province, killed around a hundred of these beasts in 2024, which could weigh 150 kg, with tusks as sharp as razors. The “City Hunters ” are followed by more than 260,000 subscribers – mostly men – on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, where their videos have millions of views. “My family and my friends are farmers,” Li Shangxue, 26, told AFP. “I saw their fields completely trampled by wild boars in a single night.” Armed with spears and knives and accompanied by a dozen hunting dogs, the group advances discreetly on a rugged slope. A few hundred meters away, in the team’s 4×4, Li has his eyes glued to the control screen of a drone equipped with an infrared camera to spot animals. Suddenly, the heavy silence is broken by the cries of one of these mammals, cornered by a dozen dogs. One of the hunters kills it with a spear. The carcass is then opened to feed the dogs, kept hungry to stimulate their hunting instinct. – “Cruel” -China classified wild boars as a protected species in 2000 to 2023. “After being protected, their population increased rapidly,” Liu Duo, a WWF China official, told AFP, according to whom these wild pigs “can adapt to very different”. Their proliferation has been favored by national efforts to restore forest ecosystems and the disappearance of natural predators. Wild boars nevertheless have ecological value, constituting a source of food for endangered species such as the Siberian tiger, the Amur leopard and the North Chinese panther.Liu Duo judges that better protection of farmers and compensation for material damage would help local populations while protecting the natural habitat of wild boars.The popularity of hunters on the social networks also worries animal rights defenders, who question the legitimacy of these private groups in wildlife management. But Zhang Tengfei, head of the “City Hunters”, is categorical: “Wild boars are “Some animal rights groups say we are cruel,” he told AFP. But “they don’t see that wild boars can kill people.” The “City Hunters” call their public service work “protecting farmers,” and they hunt on a voluntary basis.Mr. Zhang believes that the use of dogs remains the safest hunting technique, while China strictly regulates the use of firearms. Traps and snares risk injuring other animals. – Ravaged fields – In the northern region of Ningxia, wild boars have become so problematic that the local government is now recruiting “bounty hunters” to slaughter 300 adult specimens per month, with a reward of 2,400 yuan (317 euros) per animal. In the vicinity of Weinan, farmer Wang Aiwa estimates that wild boars will have caused damage of around 15,000 yuan (1,983 euros) in 2024. “Everything has been devoured,” sighs the septuagenarian, pointing to a ravaged field. “Sometimes I stay up all night in my field with a stick and a pitchfork, but it’s no use.” Other villagers set off firecrackers or bang cymbals until dawn to keep the animals away, in vain. Ms. Wang, who is still waiting for the compensation requested from the local government, believes that farmers’ only option is to turn to groups of hunters to protect their farms. – One million subscribers – Hunters are aware that they don’t can solve the problem single-handedly.”The costs keep increasing,” adds Zhang Tengfei. The team’s drone cost them around 40,000 yuan (5,288 euros), and a dog can be worth several thousand euros. The group’s goal is to reach one million subscribers on Douyin to make money thanks to advertising and the sale of related products. All of them have a job but would like to be able to devote themselves fully to hunting. Every morning, they get up early to feed the pack, clean the equipment and prepare for the next exit.As soon as night falls, they rev up the engine of their 4×4 to travel the mountain trails in search of their next target.sam/oho/aas/jug/jnd
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