(haipo) – In recent years, Haifa has lived in constant tension with wild animals. The increasing presence of wild boars in the heart of neighborhoods has created a complex reality: a sense of insecurity, fear for children, damage to property, and sometimes even real fear. For many residents, the urban space has ceased to feel protected.
These feelings are legitimate. They were not born out of a vacuum, but from accumulated daily experience. And amidst all this tension, it's easy to forget something important: not every wild animal is a wild boar.
Not every encounter is a threat.
The incident that occurred last week in the French Carmel neighborhood painfully illustrates this. The death of a raccoon in the French Carmel sharpens the attitude towards urban nature.
One spur, an entire urban reality
In the early hours of the morning (Friday, 12/12/25), a seriously injured porcupine was found in the neighborhood, apparently after being hit by a vehicle. The driver who hit him did not stop, did not report, and did not attempt to call for help.
The porcupine lay there for several hours, injured and helpless, until residents of the neighborhood noticed it and called an inspector from the Nature and Parks Authority and the "For Wildlife" association. A volunteer from the association for wildlife, Zohar Lahat, arrived at the scene and took the porcupine for treatment. It received initial treatment, but its condition was critical.
After a fight for his life, and after it became clear that there was no real chance of recovery, the difficult decision was made to euthanize him.
The treatment officials noted that it is very possible that the outcome would have been different if the injury had been reported in a timely manner.
Not every wild animal is a danger.
The porcupine is a nocturnal, quiet, and non-aggressive animal. It poses no threat to humans, does not seek contact, and is not part of the urban conflict surrounding wild boars.
Unlike them, it is mainly affected by the city itself, roads, vehicles, and lack of awareness.
The fact that Haifa is dealing with an excess of wild boars should not lead to the generalization of all wildlife as a problem or threat.
In a charged reality, a distinction is required: Between a dangerous animal and one that is not, between the need for population management and indifference to unnecessary harm.
Urban nature is a right that comes with responsibility. Nature did not “invade” Haifa
The city has developed into natural habitats, and the encounter between humans and wildlife is a direct result of urban expansion, roads, and infrastructure.
Urban nature brings with it many benefits: Biodiversity, ecological balance, and connection to the environment. But it also requires responsibility, attention, and basic knowledge of how to act when something goes wrong.
This is how you do it right. In any case of harm to an animal, including a wild animal:
- Stop in a safe place, if possible.
- Don't try to handle it alone.
- Immediately report to qualified treatment providers Quick reporting can save lives and sometimes the difference is minutes.:
The Association "For Wildlife - Avihu Sherwood": 054-520-3071
Contact the Israel Nature and Parks Authority 3639*
Finally
This article does not seek to preach, blame, or ignore the real difficulty that Haifa residents experience in dealing with wild boars. It seeks to remind us that within a complex reality, there is room for discernment, humanity, and responsibility.
The death of the porcupine in the French Carmel is a small tragedy, but also a great reminder: Not every wild animal is a threat, and in a city that lives so close to nature, our responsibility is greater. I wish we could prevent the next incident.
Your site is a danger to humanity and animals.
Drivers feel like they've run over a street animal like a cat, or a wild animal like a porcupine or even a fox, and they move on because it's ""just an animal."" Despicable people.
An important way to prevent such accidents is to teach people basic rules for driving around wildlife.
1. Usually taking your foot off the accelerator will slow the vehicle down enough to allow a pedestrian to cross and find shelter or escape.
2. Driving in places that are sufficiently lit by streetlights
You can drive with parking lights on so that the animal is not blinded and does not freeze in place.
3. If possible, other vehicles can also overtake the animal with the utmost caution, and so can other drivers who are in the vicinity of the animal and avoid harming it.
Amir. You're right. Let animals live. We'll become savages.
I suggest that you focus instead on the deaths of people and not animals, you beautiful soul.
It depends. People like you, for example, can and should be managed without.
Sad, because a porcupine is a vegetarian animal, quiet and completely harmless, not harming anything or anyone. Porcupines live in pairs that stay together their whole lives, and like in a children's story about animals, a father, mother and puppies live in a burrow, a family for all intents and purposes. Just like humans… too bad.
right
Very right. Let animals live.
Was a quiet animal spurred and not causing any damage? What what what are you repeating this nonsense again, as someone who has suffered for many years from a pair of porcupines who have made my life hell on earth, so here is what they do to me and continue to do, they have not left a seedling in my garden that they have not taken out and torn it to pieces because they feed on roots and tubers, they dig holes in the ground for me and throw the dirt everywhere, I constantly buy soil in bags, it would be better to fill and close all the holes they made in my garden, they have destroyed expensive seedlings that I purchased from an avocado nursery, if it were a mango, they have torn out the entire seedling and all the roots, every attempt to fence the garden is useless, they dig deep under the fence and are not willing to give up, and the highlight is they are piercing all the pipes of the house's plumbing that run under the house and the damage from the repairs has already cost me over 3700 NIS. Every few months they pierce the pipes, even though I have put water in a bucket for them to drink so that they will stop Puncture the pipes, it didn't help, they just don't stop, they are very, very stubborn and strong creatures and cause terrible damage, so whoever wrote this article, do your homework before you publish your nonsense, for over a few years I have been suffering and despairing of them, I can't grow anything in a garden that is full of holes that they don't stop digging for me, and not to mention the damage to the house's plumbing and the financial expenses they caused me and still continue to cause, in short, a disgusting animal that causes a lot of damage to garden owners
If you are a cabbage or a green cucumber, that's another matter, and animals like a rabbit, porcupine, or guinea pig are really dangerous for you. I suggest you move.