With dogs and drones, teams of "field guardians" have become a vital force in helping farmers protect their yields by tracking and hunting down excessive boars, as the wild animals have rampaged crops and become a major headache, local media reported.

Zhang Guomin, a farmer in Xixia county, Henan province, contacted one such local team on Oct 12, as he found out his sweet potato field had been damaged when he came to check his vegetable plants.

Based on the footprints, Chu Feng, head of the team, estimated that the culprit was a boar of around 100 kilograms. "As boars are social animals and tend to live in groups, it's likely there are a group of them here," Chu told Elephant News, which is affiliated to Henan Broadcasting System.

He said that as the autumn deepens, boars need to gain weight for the winter. Meanwhile, as food is getting scarce in the mountains, some boars come down and may be attracted by the scent of crops, he added, saying that his team would gather their gear and hunt down the boars.

Chu's team is among nearly 20 teams organized by Xixia's forestry bureau, each consisting of 10 to 20 members. The bureau said in a statement that there are around 2,000 boars in the county based on its estimation, and the bureau has issued 292 permits for hunting the wild animal. It added that methods such as electricity nets, traps and poisoning are banned.

Xue Yunlong heads another such team in Xixia. Named "White Neck", the team sends out drones in the morning, when boars are usually more active and can be tracked more easily. Upon finding a target, the team lets out dogs, mostly pit bulls, to hunt the boar down. After a fierce fight, which often results in scars and wounds on the dogs, the boars become the dogs' treat.

"We have been using drones since last year, and the thermal imaging of drones really helped us a lot, especially in darkness," said Shi Fuxun, an official with the Xixia forestry bureau.

According to the bureau, it hunted down 383 boars in 2022 and 392 last year, and has also busted three illegal poaching cases this year.

On the other hand, the county is encouraging villagers to buy insurance for their crops. Some 600 hectares of farmland have been insured, and more than 3 million yuan ($421,000) has been paid as compensation for those affected, the forestry bureau said.

Excessive boars have become problematic in many locations in China, as their high fertility and adaptability help them thrive as the country's ecological situation has improved over the years. When their numbers surpass an area's capacity, boars often look for food in agricultural fields, leading to conflicts with humans.

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration carried out a pilot project in 2021, allowing the establishment of specialized teams to hunt down boars in 14 provincial regions severely afflicted by the wild animal.

Last month, forestry authorities in Xiji, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, sent out a recruitment advertisement looking for "bounty hunters" and planned to award 2,400 yuan for each boar killed, which sparked public interest.

They explained that excessive boars posed severe conflicts with local farmers and threatened the crops, and set a quota for the hunt of no more than 300. In June last year, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration removed wild boars from its list of protected animals, meaning they can be hunted legally with permission.

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