Near Toulouse, wild boars devastate the course of a superb 18-hole golf course
The 18-hole golf course at Vieille-Toulouse, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, is one of the most beautiful in the Toulouse region. Wooded and hilly, it offers superb views over Toulouse and the Garonne valley. Since the end of July, it has unfortunately also been very popular with wild boars, looking for worms on the route.
It is impressive to see the events caused by the wild boars on the grounds carefully maintained by the gardeners, responsible for maintaining a dream space on the Toulouse golf club, chemin de la Planho, in Vieille-Toulouse (1). Unpleasant to see, in the morning, the lawns completely destroyed and plowed during the night. Going in bands, often laies followed by a dozen young wild boar, causing extensive damage and devastating the entire passage, despite the provisions to prevent access to these lands. This is to say the exasperation of the owners and managers of the site who no longer know which way to turn.
Sébastien Ferrier, responsible for the golf course gardener, explains: “Since the end of July, we have suffered from these wild boar attacks. As the drought is important, we are obliged to water to maintain a sufficiently moist soil essential for the maintenance of the lawns. As a result, the worms that come to the surface, wild boars are fond of them, hence the accidents that we regularly suffer. We have alerted hunters to this situation for over a month without any results. In addition, we are located in a protected area and cannot resolve the problem for ourselves. We need more than one for the refurbishment ”.
Intricable situations for individuals too
Among the neighbors, many people who are confronted with invasions of wild boars, in their gardens, have a feeling of abandonment; anger roars. It is no longer possible to passively undergo such significant damage. This obliges the owners to take measures to put the authorities in front of the problem, in order to initiate reimbursement procedures and to implement adequate collective actions allowing to put an end to this disorder.
The problem is recurrent, especially in densified agglomerations. Damage is caused by hard boars which hide in unmaintained wasteland, without the intervention of local officials, thus facilitating their proliferation.