Payments offered for wild boar hunters in Ningxia

Boar hunters are being recruited to capture around 300 adult wild boars in Xiji county of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, with a bounty of 2,400 yuan ($342) paid for each boar and an additional 200 yuan for harmless disposal. Recruitment will end on Saturday.

Eligible hunters, aged 20 to 60, are expected to form teams to hunt the boars, weighing at least 40 kilograms each. Hunting teams must be equipped with tools such as drones, infrared cameras, at least 10 dogs, traps, several types of knives, iron nets, protective gear and other equipment, the Forestry and Grassland Administration of Xiji said on its WeChat account.

It also listed details about the scope of hunting and requirements for harmless disposal, but it didn't release the number of hunters.

It added that the funds come from the central government's ecological restoration program, with the total budget reaching 780,000 yuan.

Currently, there are a large number of inquiries. So only qualified teams can participate. Individuals are not allowed to act alone, a staff member from local administration was quoted as saying in Beijing News recently.

The project is a wild boar population control project, which is initiated when the number of the animals exceeds the carrying capacity of a specific area. It aims to control the population at a specific level, as opposed to indiscriminate, uncontrolled hunting, the report said.

Damage caused by wild boar includes the destruction of tree seedlings, fruit and various other crops, and can be worse than damage from frost, strong winds or heavy rains, it said.

Similar bounties for wild boar have been attempted in various regions. For example, in September 2022, Weinan, Shaanxi province, issued a notice of rewards for voluntary hunting of the animals. Tongjiang county of Bazhong, Sichuan province, issued an announcement offering a bounty of 2,000 yuan for killing one wild boar.

Guo Yanqi contributed to this story.