The Hunting Trends of Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) Hunters in Northeastern Algeria

Wild boars have been expanding their range in the northern part of Algeria probably as a consequence of decreasing hunting pressure since the Algerian government has banned hunting for more than 20 years because of civil war. Wild boar is causing a lot of damages and is considered in rural areas as a permanent threat to the crops, livestock and people in recent years. Such situation is obvious in the Annaba district situated in northeastern Algeria. Population control is strongly requested by farmers. However, the number of hunters has been drastically decreasing since the 1990´s. To maintain hunting activity and increase the number of hunters, which in the end can lead to hunting as a management tool, we must understand their dynamic by investigating their activities and attitudes. This study is the first investigation in Algeria dealing with the assessment of wild boar hunters’ activities and attitudes. Questionnaires were conducted in 2014; out of 150 licensed hunters at the local hunting associations in Annaba, 114 were questioned and interviewed. Almost half of hunters (47.4 %) were more than 60 years old. We found that most of them (56.2 %) practice hunting for over 30 years; hunting was seen by 40.4 % of hunters as a traditional sport-leisure, which means that for the majority of hunters the idea of "hunting to control" is not considered. The major problem encountered by 36 % of hunters is the lack of munitions, followed by the difficulty of weapon purchase.