Authorities in Amasya to reward hunters with ammunition in exchange for wild boar tails

Ogün Akkaya / DUVAR

The Department of Agriculture and Forestry in the Taşova district of the Black Sea province of Amasya announced earlier this month that hunters will be rewarded with rounds of shotgun ammunition for bringing in the tails of slain wild boars. 

The authorities will allow the culling of all wild boards – with the exception of pregnant ones – for a period of nine months.  

The department Agriculture and Forestry in district of Taşova maintains that the population of boars in the area has risen and that they are negatively impacting agricultural land in the region. 

However, wild boars have been on a list of protected animal species since Turkey signed an agreement securing the protection of the animals and their natural habitats in 1984.

“We must not destroy the balance of nature and the natural habitats of animals. Animals have been forced to wander into cities to feed themselves. The reason for this is that we have not come up with adequate policies and we don’t respect the animals’ habitats” said Pelin Sayılgan, the Ankara representative of the Animal Rights Federation, adding that since the animals in question are wild pigs, people are not reacting to the decision. 

Though significant populations of wild boars live across Turkey and have increasingly been seen roaming through cities in search of food due to the destruction of their habitats, their existence is somewhat of a taboo as Islam forbids the consumption of pork meat. 

News regarding the hunting of wild boars come after recent controversies over the hunting of mountain goats in the province of Dersim, where the local population considers the goats as sacred. Following mounting reactions to it, tenders for hunting the goats in the area were cancelled. 

Yaşar Kayataş from the Amasya Department of Agriculture and Forestry had said that the authorities see the hunting of wild boards as an opportunity to boost tourism and bring in revenue.