For villagers on Yanshan Mountain, 300 km from Beijing, ecological improvement has led to better growing conditions, cleaner spring water and fresher air, but wild animals have emerged as a new menace.
In Longhua County in the city of Chengde, Hebei Province, hordes of boars are often seen digging corn seeds for food on farmland during the spring, and eating corn and potatoes in the autumn, leaving villagers with scant harvests.
In one extreme case, male boars were found to have mated with domesticated pigs raised on the mountain, which later gave birth to a litter of more than a dozen hybrid piglets.
"The hybrid pigs had sharp mouths, and red and yellow fur with black and white strips. They are too restless to be kept in a pigsty," said Xiao Fan, a forestry engineer with the county's forestry bureau.
"I have seen a horde of around 20 boars wandering the mountain, with adults on the edge, and small piglets in the middle," Xiao recalled.
More than 100 boars are estimated to roam near several villages in Lanqi Township of Longhua County, where the wild pigs were rarely seen ten years ago, said Liu Ruichen, head of the township's agricultural service station.
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