¡WILD BOAR!

I was in La Figuera this morning working on my wines when a local grower showed up with a trailer of grapes. He told me he lost half of his crop to wild boars (about 1600 kilos). About an hour later, a group of hunters arrived with a boar they had just shot. It's hunting season here.
Hunting in Catalunya is highly regulated. Hunters are required to wear bright clothing and post signs along the road near where they are hunting. They are also required to belong to a local hunter's association. If you post your property with a sign saying "private hunting only", you are required to control the wild animals on your property. If someone hits a deer or boar with their car, the police will come and take a picture of the damage and the local hunter's association will pay to fix the car. I suppose they have some kind of insurance.
As in Texas, wild pigs are becoming a big problem here. The species here is the European wild boar as opposed to feral hogs at home. The locals call them "jabalí" but they are a different species from our javelina. Javelina are technically peccaries. Wild boar are the ancestors of domestic swine.
Despite the increasing damage to crops here, it's illegal to trap wild boar (€3000 fine). The problem is especially bad near La Figuera because it backs up to a big national forest. The boars sleep in the forest during the day and come out at night to pillage the fincas.
The boar you see here is about 45 kilos. I came within a few centimeters of hitting one almost twice as big one night last spring. These things are really good to eat if you know what you're doing. I hope these chicos will bring us some chorizo.
¡Bon profit!