Japan: Aging people, wild boar overgrown

Many rural Japanese towns where the population is aging are gradually being "invaded" by the swarms of wild pigs that are constantly growing.

Nearly 20 years ago, about 100 residents of Kakara Island in southwestern Japan only had to worry about catching fish and transporting them to market. Now residents on the island have to cope with the number of wild boars 3 times more than the population is raging uncontrollably.

Not only Kakara but many other towns in Japan also faced the same situation. The number of wild boar booms while the population in rural areas is shrinking due to population aging.

As the population of rural areas is getting older, older people gradually die while young people rush to urban areas to find jobs making the towns and villages deserted. The number of people who own hunting licenses for firearms has also dropped sharply in recent years. And when the people were absent, the wild boar began to pour in.

A wild boar runs in the courtyard of Kyoto University dormitory in western Kyoto City - Japan (Photo: 2017 KYODO NEWS).

According to the Telegraph, the first wild boar swarms to Kakara seem to have found a "paradise" even though the island between Fukuoka and Saga prefectures covers less than 3 km2. What is more beautiful when they have no natural enemies here, the food is very rich, every house is full of pumpkins, potatoes . in the backyard garden. The local economy relies heavily on small-scale tourism and camellia tea growing - used in the cosmetics industry. But the fierce boar threatens visitors to "run away without a date" and eat off the camellia gardens.

And yet, fear of wild boar attacking, children in Kakara don't even dare to play outside, adults also hesitate to walk outside. In response, the islanders set up traps and captured about 50 wild boars each year, but that number is nothing compared to their fertility: a female pig can produce up to 6 pigs per year. Too depressed, some people even suggested migrating and leaving the island for wild boars.

Across Japan, the "encounters" between humans and wild boars are also unavoidable as their numbers increase. In December 2017, two boars stormed into a high school in Kyoto that made students panicked and evacuated. In February this year, farmers in Northeast Japan caught a male boar weighing 127 kg, heavier than the average weight of the European wild boar. In particular, they are thriving in areas near the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, which has been abandoned since March 2011 after a three-nuclear nuclear reactor leak and radiation leak. The surrounding countryside. People have left but wild animals still stay and increase their numbers.