# Wild Boars in European Cities? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2021, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724 "2021-10-01T12:28:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/21 "2021-10-02T09:59:08Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The ones that have been ransacking my home town of Haifa, Israel are certainly wild hogs - there’s been no pig domestication in this country since the Crusaders pulled stakes. It seems impossible but I’m curious: is there somehow an extant population of feral boars/hogs whose origin dates back to the Crusades? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/22 "2021-10-02T10:36:24Z")
I’m pretty sure that the boars in Israel are OG wild boars. Remember, unlike in Europe, nobody here hunts them for food. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/23 "2021-10-02T15:36:02Z")
Are the wild pigs/boars safely edible? As in, not infested with some dangerous parasites or such. If so, and the dire warnings we’ve heard about coming food shortages due to covid labor issues/shortages of truck drivers and meat factory workers come true, then those pigs may face being driven to extinction another time. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/24 "2021-10-02T15:43:27Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Wild boar farm? Is it just me or is that statement an oxymoron? There are 200,000 wild pigs in Arkansas. There was a game and fish program about 30 years ago to breed wild pigs. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/25 "2021-10-02T15:46:59Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Are the wild pigs/boars safely edible? As in, not infested with some dangerous parasites or such. I’ve eaten wild pig and deer killed in Arkansas. They are cooked so thoroughly that I couldn’t tell the difference, and parasites is why. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/26 "2021-10-02T15:49:28Z")
Wild pigs and boars are just as safely edible as farm pigs, that is: you should not eat them raw. See [trichinosis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis), for instance. They are also big and strong, so you should never try to eat them alive, they are no oysters. I seriously doubt you can hunt them into extinction, neither the boars in Europe nor the feral pigs in the USA. They are closer to being a plague than to becoming extinct. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/27 "2021-10-02T15:49:48Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Are the wild pigs/boars safely edible? As in, not infested with some dangerous parasites or such. While Trichinella has been largely eradicated in domestic pork, it is still definitely floating around in wild/feral pigs. Not at a super-high rate, but around. It can be dealt with by both cooking the meat to at least medium-well or freezing it at a low enough temperature for long enough. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/28 "2021-10-02T15:50:35Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Here in Japan too. I’m in the suburbs of Kobe, but a couple of years ago a wild boar bit off a woman’s finger at the local train station. They come on down from the mountains for food trash. > **[Think you had a rough commute? Japanese salaryman gets jumped by wild boar on...](https://soranews24.com/2018/11/07/think-you-had-a-rough-commute-japanese-salaryman-gets-jumped-by-wild-boar-on-way-to-work%E3%80%90vid%E3%80%91/)** > > After knocking him down, the animal came back to try to finish the job. > **[Fisherman attacked by wild boar jumping out of the ocean, defeats it with...](https://soranews24.com/2020/02/27/fisherman-attacked-by-wild-boar-jumping-out-of-the-ocean-defeats-it-with-bare-hands/)** > > Boars can do that apparently. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/29 "2021-10-02T16:49:33Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > I’m in the suburbs of Kobe Seems like a great opportunity, if you can learn to hunt them. Put “Kobe” in front of anything and people will pay big bucks to order it. “Would the gentleman prefer Chilean Sea Bass or Kobe Porcine Charcuterie?” ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/30 "2021-10-02T17:44:17Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Are the wild pigs/boars safely edible? They are excellent fare, I’ve eaten wild boar many times. Properly cooked (easy as fuck) it is completely safe. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/31 "2021-10-02T19:05:07Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The ones that have been ransacking my home town of Haifa, Israel are certainly wild hogs - there’s been no pig domestication in this country since the Crusaders pulled stakes. Don’t be so sure. I spent a few days driving around Azilal, Morocco with a local Berber. He pointed out the farmstead of a Portuguese ex-pat who raises hogs. I asked if there was a large enough non-Muslim population in the valley to make a go of such a farm and he assured me she was the most successful businesswomen in the province, and that most of her customers were Muslims. The laws make it difficult to import pork into Morocco so the only alternative is to locally source it. I wouldn’t be surprised to find a discrete pig farm or two in Israel or any other nation influenced by religious dietary restrictions. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/32 "2021-10-02T19:27:24Z")
I’m fairly sure that nobody in Israel is running around the countryside blasting away at wild pigs, and that all the bacon cheeseburgers and supermarket pork products are farmed just like anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/33 "2021-10-02T19:37:51Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I’m fairly sure that nobody in Israel is running around the countryside blasting away at wild pigs, and that all those bacon cheeseburgers and supermarket pork products are farmed just like anywhere else. I’ve never been in an Israeli supermarket. Are pork products as readily available as you make it sound? And I wasn’t suggesting wild pig hunting was something that happens there; but rather small pig farms (which a previous poster said don’t exist) could well be the original source of wild pig populations in Israel. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/34 "2021-10-02T19:48:59Z")
My own data point from several years ago from a supermarket in the middle of Tel Aviv is that they had a bunch of pork products, but they did not look especially high quality or offer that extensive a variety, though you would not have been out of luck for your ham sandwich or BLT or ribs or whatever. That is just one supermarket, though, so I assume a potential customer would have a better shot at the good stuff at one of the many, many delicatessens, butchers, or regular markets. Not kosher or halal ones, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/35 "2021-10-02T19:57:05Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Seems like a great opportunity, if you can learn to hunt them. Put “Kobe” in front of anything and people will pay big bucks to order it. I have some crumbs of Kobe meteorite. The little that is available sells at around $4,500,000 a pound. [[Album] Kobe meteorite crumbs ![](https://i.imgur.com/u6DC0q7.jpeg?fb "Kobe meteorite crumbs") ](https://imgur.com/a/FRckzeP) [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237295455\_Special\_Issue\_The\_Kobe\_meteorite\_consortium\_Preface](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237295455_Special_Issue_The_Kobe_meteorite_consortium_Preface) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/36 "2021-10-02T20:15:43Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I’m fairly sure that nobody in Israel is running around the countryside blasting away at wild pigs, and that all the bacon cheeseburgers and supermarket pork products are farmed just like anywhere else. Israel law prohibits importing pork products into Israel, except with special permits. Such ‘exceptions’ were widely available, supposedly to Christian areas or importers. But after losing the recent election, the exiting government has restricted or ended these exemptions. That is allegedly a favor to the Israeli pork industry, by eliminating foreign competition. Yes, there is an Israeli pork industry. It’s mostly made up of Christians or Russian emigres to Israel. Both of those are largely members of minority political parties, which the ruling party would like to have join in their coalition. The law also prohibits any slaughtering of pigs anywhere on the soil of Israel. And the courts strictly follow the letter of the law . So pork slaughterhouses in Israel legally have to be built with these things called ‘floors’. (Some of the nitpickers here on SDMB would be right at home there!) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/37 "2021-10-02T20:32:18Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Mostly, but this varies a little bit. In 1925 [European wild boar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_boar) were imported into Monterey county in CA by a local landowner as game animals. These of course began promptly mixing with local feral swine (who are of course the same species anyway). Friends of mine years and years ago went there to hunt the boar. Didn’t make it though. Made too agressive a swerve on a blind curve and tipped over their 4Runner. One of the coolers opened and some liquid spilled. One of the guys thought it was a gasoline spill and hustled out of the vehicle and ran ran away. He was razzed for years about it. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/38 "2021-10-02T21:29:12Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > So pork slaughterhouses in Israel legally have to be built with these things called ‘floors’. (Some of the nitpickers here on SDMB would be right at home there!) "Don’t let the name throw you, Jimmy. It’s not really a floor. It’s more of a steel grating that allows material to sluice through so it can be collected and exported.” ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/39 "2021-10-02T21:30:53Z")
“And it’s not 'pork ’ it’s ‘white meat.’” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724/40 "2021-10-02T21:52:47Z")
Another common - and legally acceptable - euphemism is “other meat”, which is objectively awesome. All that aside, there hasn’t been any widespread boar hunting in this country (which could lower population levels) since the seventh century, so while the wild boars may have some domesticated ancestry, mostly they’re just wild boars. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-boars-in-european-cities/951724.md?page=3)