Wild boars have invaded the Moroccan city of Essaouira, roaming freely in its streets and urban areas, despite the authorities' efforts to limit their presence. There are fears of accidents and potential attacks on residents, leading to demands for strict measures.
On social media, images and videos have circulated showing herds of boars approaching people and residential areas, eating food scraps near garbage bins, undisturbed by the noise of the city. Some footage has documented citizens showing compassion towards the animals and intervening to feed them and get closer to them.
The growing number of boars has raised concerns among residents regarding their physical safety and property, prompting calls for immediate action from the authorities to address the spread of the phenomenon in urban areas and mitigate its escalation.
Activist Hicham El Waq wrote on his Facebook page that "the pig can no longer live in the forest due to drought and has come down to the city in search of food for its young, but intervention is necessary to remedy the situation before their numbers multiply and become difficult to control."
Activist Moaz Karma, in his post, urged the responsible authorities to act quickly to create a protective barrier along the boundary between the forest and the city to stop the massive influx of hungry boars into Essaouira, as well as to protect these animals from infectious diseases spread by garbage and from indiscriminate hunting.
In response, local authorities in Essaouira have launched successive patrol campaigns to hunt and kill these wild boars in an attempt to mitigate the risks and harmful effects on the local population by controlling their numbers, resulting in the capture of a significant number of these boars.
