The Netherlands' Council of State (the country's highest administrative court) has ruled that Utrecht province may shoot wild boar, primarily on the grounds that the animals pose a danger to road safety. The ruling ends a legal challenge brought by two animal rights organisations, Animal Rights and Fauna4Life, which had argued that alternatives such as fencing were viable; the court rejected this, noting that fences would fragment habitats and that the boar's rapid reproduction rate — populations can triple in a year under favourable conditions — makes culling necessary. Wild boar have been drifting into Utrecht from the Veluwe region (a forested area in the neighbouring province of Gelderland) since 2021, and under Dutch national policy dating to 1993, the animals are only permitted to live in designated areas in Gelderland and Limburg; Utrecht province has not yet announced when the cull will begin.