At least 20 wild boars, an animal under state protection, are living in Yanqing County in suburban Beijing and in recent years have tended to move from mountainous areas to the plains, according to the local Forestry Bureau.

A team of zoologists, veterinarians and officials yesterday found two wild boar dens at Shixia Village in Yanqing County.

Since July this year, wild boars have repeatedly invaded cornfields in the village.

A villager told the team he had seen a big boar with two smaller ones in his cornfield a couple of days previously.

Since boar traces including their footprints, fresh excrement, hair and body imprints were discovered in Sihai Town in 1996, wild boars, together with leopards and wolves, have been found frequently in the wooded areas of Beijing's suburbs.

The frequent sightings of such animals indicates the capital's improving ecology, experts said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2002)