Brandenburg town launches portal to register wild boar sightings

A municipality in Brandenburg, which has become overrun by wild boar, has launched an online platform where locals can register their wild boar sightings. 

Kleinmachnow launches boar sighting portal

The municipality of Kleinmachnow in Brandenburg has launched an online portal where locals can register sightings of wild boar. 

On the new digital form locals can add information about the time and location of the sighting, alongside the number of boar which were seen. It is also possible to add a description and photo to the report.

The portal was initially tested on a small number of residents. Alongside residents in Kleinmachnow, locals living in nearby Teltow, Stahnsdorf and neighbouring districts of Berlin can use the portal.

Kleinmachnow wild boar population has shot up

The wild boar population in the woodlands surrounding Kleinmachnow has significantly grown since 2024. According to a report by local public broadcaster rbb, the local wild boar population sat at 200 in the summer of 2023 and had increased to 600 by summer 2024.

The animals are regularly found rummaging through locals’ rubbish bins or are seen walking through the town centre, along roads, through play parks or across front lawns. Kleinmachnow made it into the international headlines in 2023 after local authorities spent days frantically searching for a supposed lioness, which had been spotted roaming the town, but turned out to be a wild boar.

Until now, municipality employees were relying on information from local Facebook and WhatsApp groups to keep tabs on the boars’ most recent whereabouts. Since 2024, they have collected a total of 1.500 pieces of information about where wild boar have been seen to get an overview of the situation.

“Only through continuous feedback can we understand where deterrent measures are effective and where further action is needed,” Kleinmachnow Mayor Bodo Krause (CDU) explained, according to the rbb report.