Espinhaço sem Javali: a campaign against wild boar in Serra do Cipó

In 2021, wild boar and boar-pig hybrids were sighted inside and near Serra do Cipó National Park. The species is among the hundred invasive species most damaging to biodiversity, and it threatens a region that holds the springs of major rivers. Government agencies and their partners already had a control plan. What was missing was communication that could inform, change behavior and get farmers, officials and tourists to act, especially in pig farming, where crossbreeding with wild boar is a risk.

We started with an assessment. We made two field trips in 2023, met with government agencies and municipal officials, ran questionnaires with farmers and unions, and listened to teams in other regions already dealing with wild boar, such as Serra da Canastra. With this data, we built the communication plan, with messages for three audience profiles: the farmer, the public official and the tourist.

The first stage became a campaign with its own signature, Espinhaço sem Javali (Espinhaço Without Wild Boar), and the slogan "Há invasores entre nós" (There are invaders among us). The video brings together testimonials from farmers, wildlife managers, experts and officials, with animation to make up for the lack of footage of wild boar. One booklet guides pig farmers; another invites partners and officials to join the control plan. The brochure, with a farming calendar on the back, teaches how to tell wild boar apart from native peccaries. Every piece carries a QR code for reporting sightings.

Finally, we presented the plan, the pieces and the video in two online meetings with protected area managers and the people interviewed.

At the November 2024 presentation, the ICMBio team reported that since the mobilization there had been no new records of the species in the region's protected areas. Managers of other protected areas, such as Caparaó and Itatiaia, asked for the materials to use in their own territories.