A wild boar attack, the damage doesn't stop -- can you win, humans-Yahoo! News

"Farmers are good now because wild boars destroy crops." When I visit farmers in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, I hear such voices all the time. Because of the aging population and depopulation, farmers are already struggling to manage their businesses, but wild boars are attacking them. It destroys fields, damages crops, and deprives farmers of their motivation. Damage from wild animals, including deer and monkeys, amounts to about 20 billion yen a year nationwide, of which the damage from wild boars is just over 5 billion yen. Today, an expert asserts that the power of wildlife is the strongest since the Meiji era. What is happening at the forefront of "Human VS Wild Boar"? Is there a clue to the solution? (Yahoo! News Editorial Department)

Narcissus annihilation, Takeyama grows bamboo shoots

Kyonan Town, Chiba Prefecture, in the southern part of the Boso Peninsula, is known as a production area for Japanese daffodils. According to the town, about 8 million bottles are shipped each year. The narcissus field of Ikuo Kaneki, 72, who plays a part in this, was destroyed by wild boars this spring.

The boar's target is earthworms, not daffodils. I dug up the whole field looking for that bait. The bulbs are scattered, the flowers are overturned, and they are not sold. “What we put our hearts into producing will be finished in one or two nights,” said Mr. Kaneki. Wild boars are smart and can easily break through electric fences that protect fields.

"At this rate, farmers will be ruined."

Daffodils are not the only ones affected. Bamboo shoots were also damaged, and all the bamboo forests of farmers who were producing 1-2 tons of bamboo shoots per year were destroyed. Wild boars also trample rice fields.

"It's really pathetic. I want to catch it and kill it as soon as possible. (Farmers) everyone thinks so." Mr. Kaneki, who continues to fight wild boars, says, "Coexistence? Impossible." Boso's special product, loquats, continued to be eaten by monkeys.

"If we continue like this, the daffodils and the village will be ruined. Farmers are still useless due to the aging population, but if pests destroy crops in addition to this... Young people will be asked, 'Please do a farmer.' I can't say

260,000 → 980,000 4 times more in 20 years

It was around 2000 that wild boars began to damage Kyonan Town. In fact, the number of wild boars had been increasing all over Japan for about 10 years. According to estimates by the Ministry of the Environment, in 1990 there were about 260,000 animals living in Japan, but as of 2013 there were about 980,000. It has quadrupled in 20 years.

Habitat areas have also expanded. The northern limit was once thought to extend from northern Fukushima Prefecture to southern Miyagi Prefecture. In recent years, it has been frequently sighted further north, in Iwate and Akita prefectures.

Why do wild boars increase? It is thought that there are multiple factors, such as the expansion of abandoned farmland due to depopulation and aging, the decrease in hunting pressure due to the decrease in hunters, and global warming. In any case, the devastation of the mountains and the depletion of food have forced wild boars to move their activities to satoyama areas, and they have also started appearing around urban areas.

Capturing ``one or two per year with one trap''

In 2002, farmers in the Yokone district of Kyonan organized the ``Yokone Trap Cooperative''. A "trap" for killing wild boars. The idea is to increase the number of traps installed by making box traps for about 20,000 yen, which normally costs about 100,000 yen each.

According to Mr. Kaneki, who is the head of the association, he currently has self-made traps in about 50 locations in the district. Still, the capture is 1 or 2 per year. It is far from being a "decisive factor for countermeasures".

Abandoned farmland has increased, and wild boars have also increased

It is said that the annual damage caused by wild boars in Kyonan Town as a whole is currently about 20 million yen. However, Kaneki thinks the reality is much higher. “The 20 million yen is the amount of damages reported. There are many cases where reports are not submitted.

When farmers lose motivation due to aging and damage from birds and animals, farmland will eventually become "abandoned farmland." With the devastated fields as the stage, wild boars with strong fertility increase in number and destroy crops again. Such a “negative chain” is now happening in farming villages and satoyama all over the country.

Protecting with Sensors Shiojiri City's Challenge

Can we continue to protect the richness of mountains and villages? In search of the "solution", I visited Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture. In 2011, a wild boar appeared in the Ueda district of the city, causing damage to 80% of the cultivated land. and zero damage.

This project was carried out by the "IT Agri Research Group", which is organized by companies related to information and communication technology located in facilities in Shiojiri City. Shinshu University also cooperated.

The impetus was a request from local farmers to create a system to prevent wild boars from entering the paddy fields. When wild boars enter the rice paddies, they give off a beastly odor to the rice, making the rice unsellable. In addition to feeding damage to rice plants, they mow down rice plants and rub their large bodies against the mud, destroying the rice paddies themselves.

In this system, sensors were installed in the field, and if a wild boar was detected, it would scare away with a flash light or a siren sound. At the same time, text messages are sent to farmers and hunting club members through the city's own network. People who receive the news rush to the fields immediately.

"The system alone is meaningless. It is only when people come to the fields."

According to Shiojiri City, as a result of this, more than 80% of the cultivated area has been damaged by wildlife since 2012. Zero in 2 years. However, the people who participated in this trial all said, "People's cooperation was great" and "Installing only machines is meaningless."

Yukio Yokozawa (60), a local hunter, says, "It's said that IT technology will solve everything, but that's not the case." “The machine triggered people to come.

Currently, there are no electric fences in the fields of the Ueda district. Former ward mayor Morikichi Kanai, 78, said, ``By making people think that there are always people, the fields are now protected without electric fences. huh?” he recalls.

Kazuyuki Sakamoto (68), the chairman of the IT Agri Research Group, also said this.

"Normally, electric fences are installed in places where wildlife damage is severe. There are no electric fences here, but there is no damage. It's almost a miracle."

Problems with "Cost" and "Destination"

Of course, there are also issues. One is the installation cost. Originally, Shiojiri City had a network system for the purpose of watching over children. As a result of using it, measures against wild boars were completed with a total of about 5 million yen, including sensors and apps. If you do not have such a base, you will need to prepare a new 3G line, etc., and the introduction cost will increase to about 8 million yen. That's a lot of money.

A ward mayor from Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, said that it would be difficult for a municipality with no money to introduce the system. “We are all we can do with electric fences.” Another ward mayor also said, "It's impossible for local residents to do it alone," and complained that it would be difficult to raise funds.

There is also the issue of "where to drive away". It is also possible that the wild boars that escaped due to the light and sound caused by the sensor response, fireworks by people who rushed to the site, and so on, simply moved to neighboring areas. It does not necessarily lead directly to the fundamental solution of "reducing wild boars."

Where to draw the ``defensive line of battle''

Professor Koichi Kaji of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology says that ``where to set the defensive line'' is important. In an era when the population was increasing, humans made extensive use of every corner of the mountain, and the line separating wildlife from humans went deeper and deeper into the mountains. Now, due to the devastation of the mountains due to aging, etc., we have returned to Satoyama.

"What should be protected? It's the place where we grow (crops) and the living space where we live, isn't it? I don't think we can maintain an optimal defense line unless we work out countermeasures with that kind of gradation." ”

People who find a way out through "eating"

There are some people who say, "Don't just catch wild boars, but make use of them." Norihiko Fujiki (45), chairman of the Japan Gibier Promotion Council, is one of them. He runs a French restaurant in Chino City, Nagano Prefecture.

According to Mr. Fujiki, the utilization rate of wild boar meat is currently only 5%. Wild boar after capture are mostly discarded.

"The number of animals did not increase because they liked animals, but they were protected for a long time (after the overhunting in the Meiji period). As a result, there is an aspect that they have increased steadily. If we can't eliminate the damage to the crops without killing and reducing them, we say, 'Let's eat.' That's the idea of ​​the council."

Boar meat is said to be tough and smelly. By spreading the correct cooking method of "cooking slowly over low heat", we would like to wipe out the negative image.

Will a mobile demolition vehicle become a new weapon?

"Freshness" is also an important factor. According to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, primary processing is to be done within two hours of catching, but according to Fujiki, if it is not processed within one hour, the smell of the internal organs will transfer to the meat.

In order to overcome this problem, the Gibier Promotion Council has developed a mobile dismantling vehicle jointly with Nagano Toyota Motor Corporation, and started demonstration experiments from this August. If you use this, even if it is caught deep in the mountains, you can immediately go to the site and process it locally. The company aims to put the dismantled car into practical use next year, and has already received inquiries about purchasing from about 40 local governments.

Expert "Halve by 2023? Impossible"

Ingenious traps, efficient patrols, sensors to drive them away, and use as food. In 2007, the Law Concerning the Prevention of Wildlife Damage was enacted in response to the ongoing battle between humans and wild boars, and a system was created in which the government provided financial support for countermeasures. The government has also announced a policy to halve the estimated one million wild boar population by 2023.

Associate Professor Akira Mori of Yokohama National University, who specializes in ecosystem management, points out, "The budget (essential for countermeasures) is finite. No one can guarantee whether it will be possible in the long term."

"If you take halfway measures, the animals will soon revive. (Forcing the policy of halving the population) may be meaningless other than temporarily creating employment."

"Era after the Meiji era, when wild animals are the strongest"

Wild boars are still expanding their range of activity and are finally approaching urban areas. Even this autumn alone, “a couple was attacked and injured” (Kiryu City, Gunma Prefecture), “a woman was injured after being bitten by a wild boar in a residential area” (Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture), and “a haunting in front of Kochi Station” (Kochi City). ), ``a series of sightings in a residential area'' (Nagano City), and ``a wild boar fell to its death from a multi-story parking lot in front of a station'' (Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture). Collisions with cars and trains are inevitable.

Professor Kaji of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology says.

"(The policy to halve wild boars) is a good direction, but it will be impossible to implement. Although detailed data is needed for each region to consider what is happening at the site of the damage, and various strategies can be considered, We haven't. It's a huge challenge."

About the increase in wild boars that is conspicuous in eastern Japan, I also refer to the relationship with the Tokyo Electric Power Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. “After the accident, the number of hunters has decreased, and the incentive to catch wild boar has disappeared. As was the case with the Chernobyl nuclear accident, when people evacuate, it becomes a wildlife paradise. It is happening in eastern Japan in 2020. This symbolizes the near future of Japan.”

In the Edo period, when the population increased and the fields were expanded, humans fought fierce battles with wild boars, and wild boars disappeared from the public eye. That situation is changing.

"This is the era after the Meiji era, when the power of wild animals is at its strongest."

[Production Cooperation] Ortus Japan [Photo] Photography: Miki Hasegawa Photo Supervision: Reminders Project Masaru Goto