Factors affecting wild boar damage and countermeasure effectiveness: a case study in a regional park located in a mountainous area

Abstract In recent years, the habitat distribution of wild boar has expanded in Japan, and the damage caused by wild boar has been significantly increased. In Bingo Sports Park, a regional park, wild boar damage has also been increasingly severe. To take effective measures, it is necessary to understand where wild boars enter the park, how they move through it, and where the damage is caused. Therefore, this study examines both environmental characteristics inside and outside the park and behavioral characteristics of wild boar using drones, sensor technology and GIS, and then clarifies the main factors contributing to wild boar damage based the logistic regression analysis. In addition, countermeasures such as installing electric fences and repellents were taken, and their effectiveness was verified. There were three main findings. First, the behavioral pattern of wild boars was found to be likely to enter from valleys and usually move on roads in the park. Second, the probability of occurring wild boar damage is higher in areas closer to roads and valleys with more natural cover. Third, the countermeasures have a significant effect on reducing wild boar damage since the amount of damage in the Multi-purposed square installed countermeasure was too small.