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“Chief of boar affairs” Shigeki Hirata, front right, instructs prefectural officials during a workshop in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. (Mainichi)

NAGASAKI — Authorities here have coined a new job position, “chief of boar affairs,” and employed an expert to fill it as part of the prefecture’s efforts to prevent persistent damage caused by the wild animals.

The “chief of boar affairs” will be responsible for suggesting and implementing specific measures to help the prefecture get rid of wild boar-inflicted damage that has become a serious nuisance to residents over the past few years. Duties will also include training of other officials, referred to as “A-level instructors,” for similar purposes.

Since 2004, when the prefecture suffered its greatest ever wild boar-inflicted agricultural losses of approximately 457 million yen, officials have implemented various countermeasures including relaxation of hunting regulations, and beginning in 2006 the appointment of wild animal specialists.

The misbehaving animals, however, have kept coming, causing an estimated 400 million yen in damages in fiscal 2010 — twice the previous year’s numbers.

“Learn to see things from a boar’s perspective,” Shigeki Hirata, the newly appointed “chief of boar affairs” advised aspiring “A-level instructors” during a September workshop in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. Forty-eight people have thus far received “A-level instructor” certification in the training program, which began in fiscal 2009.

Pointing at an approximately 1-meter-high metal fence set up around a farm field near the workshop site, its top tilted outwards, Hirata reminded that a boar’s line of sight is estimated to be about 50 centimeters off the ground. According to his instructions, a tilted fence is more efficient than a straight one, not unlike stone walls surrounding castles that were built tilting outward to ward off rival samurai.

The 40-year-old Hirata, who studied wild boars at the graduate school of the University of Tsukuba, was appointed to the “boar chief” position on Sept. 1, after serving as an expert wildlife advisor to the prefecture.

“There is still a major lack of knowledge of how to prevent wild boar damage and manage protection fences,” Hirata argues. According to him, the animals are quick learners, and that relying on common theories — such as that boars fear cows and that creosol-scented bags chase them away — will in fact have the opposite effect.

Electric fences are also an option for keeping wild boars out, Hirata says, but they can become less effective if weeds grow around them, decreasing the voltage.

According to prefectural estimates, more than 70 percent of the 5,483 reports of agricultural damage inflicted by the animals during fiscal 2010 were from areas where no countermeasures had been taken. Moreover, approximately 60 percent of the sites had no protection fences.

“To prevent further damage we should expand correct measures and promote cooperation among residents,” the chief of boar affairs said.