Dordogne mairie offers cages to catch boar devastating private gardens

A commune in Dordogne is organising for cages to be installed in residents’ gardens to help catch and control wild boar as the animals threaten to overrun the village. 

Several gardens in Chancelade (a suburb of  Périgueux) have been damaged by groups of wild boar running through as numbers have exploded in the area in recent years. 

Broken fences, trampled plants, destroyed objects and half-eaten produce are all telltale signs of the sometimes daily passage from the animals, leaving residents frustrated and pleading to the mairie for help. 

It led to the novel idea of setting up these traps to help protect gardens.

Deputy mayor Maryline Renaud confirmed the scheme when contacted by The Connexion. 

The traps are kept at the mairie, and residents can borrow them to protect their gardens free of charge.

An expert from the local hunting federation then helps to set up the trap – a three-metre long iron cage – and offers advice on how to entice the boar inside. 

Once caught, the animal is taken away and killed by hunters. 

“We have had a lot of demand for the traps [since beginning the scheme],” said the deputy mayor. 

“Wild boar are becoming more and more present in the area and are causing lots of damage to gardens and the local area.”

The mairie confirmed that the traps fully comply with regulations and that it works with local hunters to ensure the animals are treated correctly and traps pose no danger to humans. 

“Our goal is to protect residents and their properties,” said the deputy mayor.

The two traps cost the mairie a combined €3,000, but the scheme is already paying dividends.

Hunters accept scheme 

One resident who recently had one of the cages installed trapped a wild boar within two nights, using some corn as bait. 

“We have lived here for 40 years, and we've never had a problem with boar [until recently],” said resident Patrick Lasjuilliarias to France 3. 

“I had to put up planks because they lift the fence to get through,” he added. 

The new scheme may be widely supported by residents, but is a little more divisive among hunters. 

“Wild boar are everywhere. Some residents go to walk their dogs [in the area], but they are attacked by the boars,” said Eric Moscavit, a louvetier (wildlife control manager and wolfhunter) in Dordogne, also to France 3.

He has helped several residents in setting up the cages.

“We put these traps in place to compensate for the areas where hunters can't go,” he said. 

Hunters believe that the best method for reducing wild boar damage is through controlled hunts. 

In 2024, around 23,000 wild boar were culled in the Dordogne department alone.

However, they admit that the proximity to people’s homes means the traps are a better alternative than shooting, with hunting too close to private property banned in France.

“I installed a camera [to track wild boar movements] and they often pass in front of houses. But what do you want to do? Shooting here is impossible, it's too dangerous,” said president of the Beaupuy hunting federation Cédric Degreze. 

However, the traps, alongside official hunting operations for the mairie and boar hunts organised by local hunting federations have all helped to improve the situation. 

Around three times as much damage was recorded by wild boar in the Dordogne in 2024 compared to 2025, possibly due to the widespread culling last summer.