Cities with wild boar slaughter triple under Bolsonaro – 05/23/2023 – Environment

The number of cities with wild boar slaughter almost tripled with the increase in CACs (hunters, shooters and collectors) during the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), and experts say there are indications of mistreatment and other irregularities.

The slaughter of the animal took place in 698 municipalities in 2017, jumping to 2,010 locations in 2022.

According to experts consulted by the Sheet, there was a multiplication of wild boars mainly during the Bolsonarist administration and the explosion of CACs in the country. People would be using management hunting (used to control the number of animals) as a pretext to practice sport hunting, which is prohibited in Brazil.

Raquel Sabaini, general coordinator for management and monitoring of the use of fauna and aquatic biodiversity at Ibama, explains that wild boar control hunting is allowed in the country because the animal is considered an invader and can destroy plantations.

However, inspection by Ibama has already identified that there was an intentional release of the wild boar to make hunting possible in municipalities where the animal did not occur. There are no official data on how many wild boars there are in Brazil and how much damage they cause.

From an observation by Ibama, Sabaini says that, before, the animals were more concentrated in the South, but now they appear in several other places — such as in Espírito Santo. There are cases when they were found on islands.

“Unfortunately, the authorization was misused and people distorted the purpose by practicing sports”, he says.

Roberto Cabral Borges, an environmental analyst at Ibama, adds that 70% of the slaughtered animals were adult males. They are stronger and serve as a “trophy”.

Borges says that the control of propagation would need to focus on the female. The data is obtained by Ibama because hunters are obliged to send detailed reports of the animals slaughtered after the termination of the hunting authorization, which lasts up to six months.

Borges claims that inspections have already found a series of irregularities related to hunting in Brazil. Among them, the slaughter of other prohibited animals, such as buffalo, mistreatment of wild boar, dogs used to assist in the slaughter, participation of people who do not have authorization, in addition to the practice of shooting from above vehicles —which is also prohibited. .

“Inspections have already caught conversations by hunters on social networks saying not to kill females and cubs so that the hunt remains,” he says.

According to the environmental analyst, the deer is another animal introduced in Brazil due to the attempt by hunters to obtain authorization for hunting.

A Sheet He easily found videos and photos of wild boar slaughter online. Hunting clubs themselves publish images of irregularities. At the Boar Hunting Club, in Goiânia, there is video of the animal being slaughtered not only by weapons, but also by other means.

In one of them, the slaughtered boar agonizes on the ground while being bitten by several dogs. By rule, the slaughter must occur quickly, without unnecessary suffering to the animals.

In the caption of the video, the club says that “hunting is a sport that many people enjoy and it is also a great way to help the environment”.

Sought, the club sent a text saying that the filming is not their responsibility and that it acts as a documentation office. The videos, he says, are managers from Brazil and other countries. “If it was a video with ‘alleged’ mistreatment of the wild boar, I apologize, we will be more careful in the next posts.”

Daniel Alves Terra, president of the National Association for Hunting and Conservation, says that, within the entity, producing and sharing videos that show mistreatment of animals is grounds for expulsion.

Terra says he does not believe that the wild boar is intentionally released in the country. In his view, Ibama should help train hunters instead of criminalizing the activity, which, in his view, has collaborated with management.

In Brazil, hunting has also caused accidents between hunters and people without authorization for the practice of slaughter. This month alone there were at least three occurrences of people being shot.

A man died on May 6 while hunting wild boar in Pindamonhangaba, in the interior of São Paulo. He was hit by a shot fired by another man, who was also participating in the hunt. According to the Civil Police, the two were CACs registered with the Army and with hunting authorization by Ibama.

On the following day, two men went wild boar hunting in Serranópolis (GO), when one of them, when performing a maneuver with his gun, would have fired a shot that killed his colleague. Also in May, two friends were hunting in Catalão (GO), when one of them was hit in the head and had to be hospitalized.

Ivan Marques, a lawyer and member of the Brazilian Public Security Forum, believes that controlled hunting is not working in Brazil and has serious consequences for public security due to the increased circulation of weapons.

“Instead of improving control, apparently the country is being invaded by wild boars. Wouldn’t it be the case for Ibama to limit the number of licenses to the affected regions or even lead initiatives to reduce the number of wild boars instead of just granting the handling hunters?”, he says.

In the view of Bruno Langeani, project manager at the Sou da Paz Institute, the data prove that, despite this explosion in Ibama authorization for hunting, people have become CACs without the intention of hunting.

There are 558,204 hunters in Brazil with active records in the Army, of which 33,543 are authorized to hunt.

“There are many hunters buying rifles with the argument that wild boars are large animals, but they don’t even ask for authorization to hunt. As there is no confrontation of information between bodies, it facilitates irregularities”, he says.

By rule, the hunter needs authorization from the Army to become CAC and buy the gun. In order to have the traffic guide issued by the Army, which allows you to take the weapon from the storage location to the practice location, you need to be registered as an exotic species handler at Ibama.

In addition to CACs, other people may have authorization from IBAMA to hunt, but in that case they cannot use firearms. They use melee weapons or traps.

According to Bruno Campos Ramos, head of the Fauna Protection Operations Nucleus, the methodology currently used to control wild boar is not effective and has encouraged sport hunting in Brazil. Therefore, he states that this topic is under discussion in the body.

“With the increase in CACs aimed at hunting, the number of environmental offenses related to this type of crime has increased, such as mistreatment. In addition to being a danger to inspection itself due to encountering heavily armed groups”, he says.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}