Only a month after plans to cull 100 wild boars in Heilongjiang Province were scuppered by ferocious public opposition, east China's Zhejiang Province has announced it slaughtered 1,360 wild boars over a 40-day period this autumn.

The provincial forestry authorities said this week that they culled wild boars between September 21 and October 30 to protect the local people who had been injured or had seen their property damaged by the boars.

Last month, forestry officials in Heilongjiang suspended the cull of 100 wild boars after a fervent media and public campaign culminated in 10,000 people signing a petition against the plan.

Ding Liangdong, head of the Zhejiang Provincial Forest Resources Protection Station, was quick to defend his decision. "The wild boars were culled because their number had increased rapidly in some areas of Zhejiang where domestic animals have been frequently attacked and crops have been damaged," he said, adding that "they were also threatening the lives of local people. We have received reports of wild boars attacking villagers."

Local forestry authorities estimate the provincial wild boar population at 100,000. The number has leapt from 29,000 in 2000 following environmental improvement.

Contrary to previous media reports, an official with the State Forestry Administration said the wild boar was not on the state-level protection list. He said they were listed among a group of wild animals that could be used for "scientific research and economic purposes". He refused to comment on cull of wild boars in Zhejiang.

"Wild boars are not on the provincial key protection list and, according to the provincial law on protection of wild animals, local forestry authorities have the right to take measures to control the population of wild animals if its number increases rapidly and the animals cause damage and hurt local people," Ding said. "The culling of wild boars in Zhejiang did not violate China's law."

The decision will likely rouse the blood of animal rights activists and sections of the general public given the ire aimed at the previous culling attempt in Heilongjiang.

Local people in the northeastern province argued that the killing of 100 wild boars would damage the local ecology and threaten the existence of the species. Others suggested that wild boars should be relocated to less populated areas.?

Experts estimate that China's wild boar population is around 1 million thanks to conservation efforts and better ecological management.

However, the animals have often invaded villagers' homes, damaged crops and hurt local villagers, according to reports from the provinces of Heilongjiang, Anhui, Henan and Zhejiang in recent years.

Anhui alone has reported over 30 cases involving attacks on people by wild boars this year.

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2006)