The Portuguese Government intends to test the payment of a compensation for each wild boar culled through hunting, through a pilot project to be launched in territories identified with excessive concentration of the species. The intention was announced by the Minister of Agriculture and Sea, José Manuel Fernandes, during the Field Day of InovMilho, held on September 2 in Coruche. There is still no legislation establishing payment to hunters, nor are details such as the compensation value, the territories covered, the participation criteria, the way to prove culls, the source of funding, and the implementation calendar defined.
Alentejo is at the center of the problem. An investigation presented at the University of Évora in 2025 analyzed 449,481 records of wild boar culled in 254 municipalities in mainland Portugal, over 32 hunting seasons, between 1989/1990 and 2020/2021. The results show that six of the eight municipalities with the highest historical density of culls are in the Alentejo region: Barrancos, Castelo de Vide, Crato, Marvão, Portalegre and Portel. Castelo de Vide recorded the highest average density in the country, with 0.0096 animals culled per hectare, and Portel reported 13,247 culls over 30 years, corresponding to an average of 442 animals per year.
The Wild Boar Strategic Action Plan in Portugal estimated the average wild boar population in mainland Portugal at 277,385 animals, with reference to the year 2022, which may range between 163,157 and 391,612 due to the margin of uncertainty. The national average density was estimated at 5.44 wild boar per square kilometer. The number of annual culls has grown significantly: it went from an average of 4,697 wild boar in the 1990s to 24,963 between 2010 and 2020, exceeding 32,000 in 2014 and 2017.
Current legislation, through Decree-Law No. 71/2024, allows wild boar hunting throughout the year by approach and waiting methods. The Government justifies the intention to reduce the wild boar population by the damage to agricultural crops, the risk of road collisions, and the decline in the number of hunters. The identification of territories for the pilot project should be based on a study coordinated by the University of Aveiro, but the Ministry of Agriculture and Sea has not yet confirmed which municipalities will be covered nor whether any territory in Alentejo will be part of the first phase.
