Opinion: hunting, not wolves or oak forests, is the realistic answer to Portugal's wild boar boom

Portugal is estimated to hold 300,000 to 400,000 wild boar, causing crop losses, road accidents and incursions into towns such as Setúbal. The government has launched a pilot scheme of financial incentives, channelled through hunters, across 60 municipalities, also driven by fear of African swine fever. Quercus and other environmental groups want wolf reintroduction, native forest recovery, fencing and more studies instead. The author calls this ideological wishful thinking: fencing is unaffordable for smallholders, and Italy's 3,000 wolves have not stopped 2 million boar. He argues boar thrive in scrub left by rural abandonment, so managed hunting is the only short-term tool.