Wild boar roaming streets of Riga to be caught then moved to forests outside city

Hunters here are bracing for a major operation in which they will catch wild boars that have been seen roaming streets of the Latvian capital city with increasing regularity, and moving them to forests, Riga mayor Nils Uskovs said on Facebook.

"After the midsummer festival, experienced hunters will start catching the wild boar and moving them to forests owned by the municipality but situated outside the city," the mayor said.

Uskovs also said there was no immediate solution to the wild boar problem, which has been troubling the city's residents lately.

The mayor ruled out a culling of the wild animals saying that this would cause security risks to humans and that wild boars could get extremely aggressive and dangerous if they were not killed instantly and were instead just wounded.

In recent weeks, wild boars, as well as moose and roe deer, have been spotted wandering in residential neighbourhoods and cemeteries here. Some of the wild boars have even attacked dogs and scared their owners. The local authority has set up a hunting coordination commission to deal with the problem. Endit