There are wild boar in the New Forest, not seen one myself but my grandparents have. I have seen plenty of pot bellied pigs there though 
Wild Boar in Kent
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Thanks. That's exactly what I was referring to; man-made habitat that has been around long enough to be taken for granted. i just don't know which happened first; the man-made habitat or the elimination of wild boars? Whatever man does (be it the elimination of a species or its re-introduction) there's always unintended consequenses.
Elen Sentier
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
A friend (Ray Harris) just up the road is an expert on keeping pigs in woodland. He doesn't keep wild boar although we have them down in the Dene; Ray keeps Tamworths and they do a grand job in the woods. Pigs were one of our ative woodland species and, as HillBill says, nature (unlike humans) never creates something without a reason. Pigs (like everything else on the planet) are far older than us and fit far better into the environment .
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Well...the last strongholds of the boar before we wiped them out were probably the "Royal hunting forests", which were deliberately kept "wild" by very rich men for their personal amusement.
It might have been answered already but -
My understanding is - They are not really wild bore they are just escaped pig's that have gone feral, apparently pig's can go very feral very quickly. And in a generation or two look just like a true wild bore.
I would not go near one in the wild but when they are "Re-Domesticated" they are quite friendly, one of the lad's I went to collage with is a keeper down south and has seen one or two in his wood's, and the shoot owner is happy to have them around as they keep undesirables of the shoot.
No, they are descended from genuine wild stock that was being kept for breeding purposes, and escaped or were set free by animal liberationists (pigs are accomplished escape artists.) They are not feral pigs descended from domesticated breeds.
There is no reason for a wild pig to see humans either as a threat or as food, and they are intelligent enough to avoid getting into a fight for no reason. You are probably more likely to be attacked by a domesticated ram or billygoat.
I saw a boar with piglets up at the Forest of Dean at the end of April this year. It took one look at us with the dog and ran squealing off in the other direction. They're doing quite a lot of damage up there though, everywhere you go theres big areas that have been rooted up as they look for food, even in the picnic areas. I don't know if it actually counts as damage in the big scheme of a forest though.
Interesting. Generally only the poor hunted boar here originally. Now it's pretty much everybody.
A friend (Ray Harris) just up the road is an expert on keeping pigs in woodland. He doesn't keep wild boar although we have them down in the Dene; Ray keeps Tamworths and they do a grand job in the woods. Pigs were one of our ative woodland species and, as HillBill says, nature (unlike humans) never creates something without a reason. Pigs (like everything else on the planet) are far older than us and fit far better into the environment
Maybe. But does your environment still have any natural predators to keep them balanced? I thought you also wiped out the wolves and bears?
We still have coyotes, bears, pathers (and a very limted population of wolves in the South) added to the very liberal human hunting alloted (there's NO limit on the number of boars taken and NO closed season) Yet they still increase their numbers and range exponentially.
BTW, are you certain swine are older than primates?
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If it didn't would we still have them? Boars have been around for a long long time. The habitats are still there, the boars wouldn't be if the habitat wasn't
Your experience only covers a tiny percentage of time. No such observations can be used to say whats good or bad for the forest in the long run. You are also a country boy, and country folk take a dim view on anything which could threaten or damage their livelyhood. Its the same here. But that doesn't mean that which countryfolk dislike, is bad. We cause more damage than anything, the UK was entirely covered by forest 5000 years ago, now look at it. If it was just boars populating our small island, i bet the forests would still be there, the wolves, bears, lions, auroch, beaver etc would still be there.
Your experience only covers a tiny percentage of time. No such observations can be used to say whats good or bad for the forest in the long run. You are also a country boy, and country folk take a dim view on anything which could threaten or damage their livelyhood. Its the same here. But that doesn't mean that which countryfolk dislike, is bad. We cause more damage than anything, the UK was entirely covered by forest 5000 years ago, now look at it. If it was just boars populating our small island, i bet the forests would still be there, the wolves, bears, lions, auroch, beaver etc would still be there.
At the time, the poor had very little in the way of hunting rights. They weren't even allowed to take rabbits. Access to the royal forests (e.g. the New Forest in Hampshire and the Ashdown Forest in Sussex) was strictly controlled. There was even a giant fence around the whole of the Ashdown Forest (which at the time covered half of the area between London and the South Coast). The fence had about 30 "gates" (for people on horseback) and "hatches" (for those on foot.) The authorities kept very close tabs on what came out of that forest.
They would have to have their numbers controlled eventually, because of the lack of apex predators.
If it didn't would we still have them? Boars have been around for a long long time. The habitats are still there, the boars wouldn't be if the habitat wasn't
As myself and others have said in previous posts, "hogs are adaptable." They'll thrive in almost ANY habitat or environment. They can completely devastate a particular habitat then continue to thrive in the habitat that replaces it.
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