Wild boar hunting and trapping as a threat for wildlife conservation on Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

Wild pig has one of the widest geographic distributions of terrestrial mammals. Dog-assisted wild pig hunting may reduce crop raiding but also elevates the potential disease transmission from dogs to wildlife and vice versa. On Sumatra, game hunting tends to focus on wild pig, where hunters either actively use dogs or firearms, or passively use snares. Our objectives are to understand: (1) the extent of active and passive wild pig hunting in Sumatra; (2) dog-assisted hunting practices; (3) potential disease transmission by hunting dogs to game. We conducted three types of data collection to cover the wide range of hunting techniques: (1) information from social media (i.e., Facebook) about dog-assisted wild pig hunting events in West Sumatra; (2) a questionnaire-guided survey among hunters around the Batanghari Protected Forest, West Sumatra; (3) expert interviews from provincial conservation offices about wild pig hunting practices in Sumatra. Active and passive wild pig hunting occurred in Sumatra. Firearm and snare hunting occurred in all eight provinces while dog-assisted hunting occurred only in six provinces. We documented at least 1331 dog-assisted wild pig hunting events which occurred in 2019 across the province of West Sumatra. The number of hunting parties and dog-assisted hunting group members on Facebook showed a dramatic increase between 2020 and 2022. Many dogs used for hunting are reportedly not vaccinated (35%), risking transmission of diseases like Rabies and Canine Distemper Virus to game and wild predators. Hunting is inadequately regulated, rendering enforcement of these regulations impossible. The extent of wild pig hunting has yet been unquantified but likely will have strong effects on the remaining wildlife populations. We call for proper quantification of hunting bags, and regulation, including the use and health status of dogs, to prevent disease transmission from dogs to wild animals and to protect remaining wildlife populations.