Human–Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Based on Damage, Distribution, and Activity: A Case Study of Wild Boar in Zhejiang, Eastern China.

Simple Summary: Human–wildlife conflict refers to conflicts that arise from the occurrence or behavior of wildlife that poses a threat to humans directly or indirectly. The wild boar, as one of the most widely distributed ungulates in the world, is known to dominate the species in mountain ecosystems in China. Here, we integrated data collected from damage and camera trap surveys to understand the damage status, abundance and density and activity rhythms of wild boar in Zhejiang, Eastern China. The damage distribution, density and activity rhythms provide specific priority management regions and activity intensity peaks for conflict mitigation. We believe that these findings could provide a scientific basis for mitigation management. Human–wildlife conflicts are becoming increasingly common worldwide and are a challenge to biodiversity management. Compared with compensatory management, which often focuses on solving emergency conflicts, mitigation management allows decision-makers to better understand where the damage is distributed, how the species are distributed and when the species conduct their activity. Here, we integrated data collected from 90 districts/counties' damage surveys and 1271 camera traps to understand the damage status, abundance, density and activity rhythms of wild boar (Sus scrofa) in Zhejiang, Eastern China, from January 2019 to August 2023. We found that (1) wild boar–human conflicts were mainly distributed in the northwest and southwest mountainous regions of Zhejiang Province; (2) the total abundance of wild boar was 115,156 ± 24,072 individuals, indicating a growing trend over the past decade and a higher density in the western and southern regions; (3) wild boar exhibited different activity patterns across different damage regions, and the periods around 7:00, 11:00 and 16:00 represented activity peaks for wild boar in seriously damaged regions. The damage distribution, density, distribution and activity rhythms provide specific priority regions and activity intensity peaks for conflict mitigation. We believe that these findings based on the damage, distribution and activity could provide a scientific basis for mitigation management at the county level and enrich the framework of human–wildlife conflict mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]