(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-11-21 11:30

HANGZHOU - Hangzhou, one of the most popular tourist cities in China, is waging a week-long campaign to hunt down and kill wild pigs, whose boldness has seen them frighten tourists at the famed West Lake, and even invade a hospital.

The campaign began on Monday, and forestry staff members were told to cull no more than 50 boars found in the West Lake Scenery Area at Hangzhou's West Lake District, said Zhu Xiaohu, of the district's Forestry and Water Resources Bureau.

Police would also get a slice of the action, as they were under orders to guard road junctions to prevent humans being injured by the boars, Zhu said.

"Hunting is banned inside the scenery area, and 'hunters' were told to drive boars to other places before killing them," he said.

A separate hunt-and-kill campaign has been going on since November 1 in the three townships of Liuxia, Longwu and Zhouwu surrounding the West Lake Scenery Area, and professional hunting teams were ordered to kill no more than 50 boars, too. The campaign will last till the end of this month.

"The number of wild boars in the three townships is estimated to be around 1,000," a hunter surnamed Chen told Xinhua.

Although no official figures are available about the number of boars inside the West Lake Scenery Area, which has about 50,000 mu (3,333.3 hectares) forests, local experts believe the number is greater than in any other areas in Hangzhou.

"You can find lots of footprints of wild boars in the scenery area's forests," Zhu said.

Growing number of wild boars

Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province, has been billed as a "paradise on earth". The West Lake Scenery Area, a famous tourist attraction, has however become a haven for wild boars in recent years.

Wild hogs appeared in residential quarters of downtown Hangzhou as early as 2002, recalled a resident Lian Bogen.

"Their sightings inside the West Lake Scenery Area and other downtown areas are getting more common and are no longer treated as news," Lian said.

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