Editing Wild boar (section)

=== Crop and garbage raiding ===
[[File:Dziki na smieciach Berlina.jpg|thumb|left|An adult sow and young that have broken open a litter bag in Berlin seeking food]]
Boars can be damaging to [[agriculture]] in situations where their natural habitat is sparse. Populations living on the outskirts of towns or farms can dig up [[potato]]es and damage [[melon]]s, [[watermelon]]s and [[maize]]. However, they generally only encroach upon farms when natural food is scarce. In the [[Białowieża Forest|Belovezh forest]] for example, 34–47% of the local boar population will enter fields in years of moderate availability of natural foods. While the role of boars in damaging crops is often exaggerated,<ref name=heptner1988 /> cases are known of boar depredations causing [[famine]]s, as was the case in [[Hachinohe, Aomori|Hachinohe]], Japan in 1749, where 3,000 people died of what became known as the "wild boar famine". Still, within Japanese culture, the boar's status as vermin is expressed through its title as "king of pests" and the popular saying (addressed to young men in rural areas) "When you get married, choose a place with no wild boar."<ref name=knight2003 /><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Walker|first1=Brett L.|title=Commercial Growth and Environmental Change in Early Modern Japan: Hachinohe's Wild Boar Famine of 1749|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|volume=60|issue=2|year=2010|pages=329–351 [331]|jstor=2659696|doi=10.2307/2659696|s2cid=39491692}}</ref>

In Central Europe, farmers typically repel boars through distraction or fright, while in Kazakhstan it is usual to employ guard dogs in plantations. However, research shows that when compared with other mitigation tactics, hunting is the only strategy to significantly reduce crop damage by boars.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Geisser|first1=Hannes|last2=Reyer|first2=Heinz-Ulrich|title=Efficacy of Hunting, Feeding, and Fencing to Reduce Crop Damage by Wild Boars|date=2004–2010|url=https://bioone.org/journals/journal-of-wildlife-management/volume-68/issue-4/0022-541X_2004_068_0939_EOHFAF_2.0.CO_2/EFFICACY-OF-HUNTING-FEEDING-AND-FENCING-TO-REDUCE-CROP-DAMAGE/10.2193/0022-541X(2004)068&#91;0939:EOHFAF&#93;2.0.CO;2.full|journal=Journal of Wildlife Management|volume=68|issue=4|pages=939–946|doi=10.2193/0022-541X(2004)068[0939:EOHFAF]2.0.CO;2|s2cid=85904067|issn=0022-541X|access-date=25 September 2021|archive-date=5 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230305145202/https://bioone.org/journals/journal-of-wildlife-management/volume-68/issue-4/0022-541X_2004_068_0939_EOHFAF_2.0.CO_2/EFFICACY-OF-HUNTING-FEEDING-AND-FENCING-TO-REDUCE-CROP-DAMAGE/10.2193/0022-541X(2004)068&#91;0939:EOHFAF&#93;2.0.CO;2.short|url-status=live}}</ref> Although large boar populations can play an important role in limiting forest growth, they are also useful in keeping pest populations such as [[European chafer|June bugs]] under control.<ref name=heptner1988 /> The growth of urban areas and the corresponding decline in natural boar habitats has led to some sounders entering human habitations in search of food. As in natural conditions, sounders in peri-urban areas are matriarchal, though males tend to be much less represented and adults of both sexes can be up to 35% heavier than their forest-dwelling counterparts. As of 2010, at least 44 cities in 15 countries have experienced problems of some kind relating to the presence of habituated wild boar.<ref name=cahill2012>{{cite journal | last1 = Cahill | first1 = S. | last2 = Llimona | first2 = F. | last3 = Cabañeros | first3 = L. | last4 = Calomardo | first4 = F. | year = 2012 | title = Characteristics of wild boar (''Sus scrofa'') habituation to urban areas in the Collserola Natural Park (Barcelona) and comparison with other locations | url = http://abc.museucienciesjournals.cat/files/ABC_35-2_pp_221-233.pdf | journal = Animal Biodiversity and Conservation | volume = 35 | issue = 2 | pages = 221–233 | doi = 10.32800/abc.2012.35.0221 | doi-access = free | access-date = 9 October 2014 | archive-date = 14 October 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141014134132/http://abc.museucienciesjournals.cat/files/ABC_35-2_pp_221-233.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref>

A 2023 study found that allowing wild pigs to forage on edible garbage in large regional landfills results in those animals getting physically large/heavier, having larger litters of piglets, and causing more wild pig-vehicle collisions in the vicinity of the landfill. The effects of letting these pigs scavenge in these landfills can present unique challenges to population management, control, public safety, and disease transmission. Wild pigs foraging on edible food waste in landfills has also been identified as a vector that facilitates the spread of African swine fever virus.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mayer |first1=John |last2=Edwards |first2=Thomas |last3=Garabedian |first3=James |last4=Kilgo |first4=John |title=Sanitary waste landfill effects on an invasive wild pig population |journal=Journal of Wildlife Management |date=2021 |volume=85 |issue=5 |pages=868–879 |doi=10.1002/jwmg.22042 |bibcode=2021JWMan..85..868M |osti=1782427 |s2cid=233601579 }}</ref>