Environment ministry develops AI wild boar monitoring for local governments

The environment ministry said Thursday that its National Institute of Biological Resources has developed an artificial intelligence monitoring system that tracks wild boar sightings, movement and capture in real time and alerts officials automatically when an animal is detected.

The institute built the system to move beyond the current practice of dispatching teams only after a sighting is reported, allowing risky areas to be checked in advance and field responses to start sooner. Boar sightings in urban areas have continued, with the Seoul Fire and Disaster Headquarters responding to 649 wild boar calls in 2023, 589 in 2024 and 494 in 2025, and 236 through June of this year.

Drones and unmanned cameras gather the data and feed it into an integrated monitoring program. The drones use deep learning to detect boars automatically within a 3-kilometer radius, while cameras mounted on closed-circuit television networks and capture traps watch movement and capture situations as they happen. The institute trained an AI model on roughly 12,000 wild boar photographs so that it can pick out the animals in drone and CCTV footage. When a boar is found, the system sends an automatic notification to the responsible official.

The technology was piloted around Mount Bukhan, spanning parts of Eunpyeong-gu and Seodaemun-gu in Seoul, where one drone, seven CCTV cameras and one unmanned real-time alert camera were installed. In February the institute produced a map predicting wild boar sightings around Mount Bukhan and provided it to the Seoul city government.

From November, the institute plans to supply local governments with the monitoring program and instructions on how to run it so they can use it in the field.

"This technology is significant in that it has laid the groundwork to look ahead at dangerous areas and respond quickly, rather than only reacting after a wild boar has appeared," said Yoo Ho, head of the National Institute of Biological Resources. He added that the institute will keep connecting its biological research capabilities to on-site safety and wildlife management.