Barcelona City Council has urgently put out to tender a new contract for the provision of the service of reactive capture of wild boars on public roads in Barcelona, which, as a result of a series of administrative problems, was in danger of being left unattended. The contract, which has a maximum duration of four months and can be extended for another two, confirms that the Barcelona City Council has chosen, at least for now, to prioritize the capture and sacrifice of these mammals over the alternative of sterilization.
Last June, the contract awarded to the wildlife ecopathology service of the Autonomous University of Barcelona ended, and it told the City Council that it was not interested in extending it as it had difficulties in covering the availability of on-call veterinarians. For this reason, a new contract was processed and at the end of August it was awarded to the company Astrovet Solutions. However, on September 22, the City Council was made aware of a special contracting appeal against this award which, given the usual delay in the resolution of this type of administrative disputes, has led it to seek an emergency solution through this new tender. , “totally essential”, according to the documentation provided, and which has an estimated value of almost 100,000 euros.
The service covers the resolution of incidents related to the presence of “conflictive wild boars” in green spaces and public roads in Barcelona, through capture, anesthesia and euthanasia which, in accordance with current legislation, requires veterinary services. , to whom these tasks correspond.
The bidding rules specify that, as a general rule, the Urban Guard receives a notice of the presence of wild boars and, if necessary, travels to the scene of the incident and decides how to act. If you need the presence of a veterinarian, activate the service by calling the successful bidder. Within a maximum period of one hour, the veterinarian must arrive at the scene and proceed to anesthetize the animal, euthanize it, transport it and dispose of the corpse. The Urban Guard has anesthetic rifles.
Since 2010, the local police of Barcelona have recorded incidents related to wild boars reported to them by citizens. The number of warnings has grown in recent years at the same time as the wild boar population has grown and they have become increasingly closer to inhabited areas. Thus, in 2021, 1,202 incidents will be recorded; In 2022 there were 1,321. These figures double those reported in previous years: 633 in 2019 and 585 in 2020.
The service requested by Barcelona City Council includes the capture and elimination of the specimens from the three fixed cages, two of them located in the Llars Mundet and a third in the Laberint de Horta park.
The bases of the service specify that no avoidable suffering or mistreatment will be caused to individuals of the species... beyond their elimination.
