Wild boar population at the Vistula Spit – management of the species in forested and urban areas

The area of the spit of Vistula river spans 166 km2 including 49 km2 of forest. Population numbers of wild boars living in forests (n=290) and in urban areas (n=56-82) were determined. The city wild boars had a higher piglets/female ratio than forest wild boars (4.3 vs. 3.8). Among the culled forest wild boars (n=62), 20% of piglets had corpora lutea whereas 57.1% of subadult and adult females were pregnant. The size of the daily home range of city wild boars (n=7) was determined by radio-telemetry and found to be 3.5-5.8 ha. A questionnaire-based opinion survey was carried out among local residents and visitors regarding the conflict between city wild boars and humans. The paper also discusses possible solutions to the conflict.