Wild Boar cull in the FoD

[Kerne]

Just seen this on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/8439997.stm

I suppose it's better that they cull a few rather than try to wipe them out. I like the idea of coming across them when I walk in the Forest of Dean.

 

[locum76]

mmmm, bacon.

 

[FerlasDave]

Theyre smart animals, they will migrate further afeild now that a new preadator is in their territory. This isnt so bad though, means they will be heading this way and I can get some piggy.

 

[gregorach]

I suppose it's good that they're doing so well that they need to be culled... The phrase "a number of gardeners have complained of damage" catches my eye - I dread to think what sort of damage a wild boar could do... Makes the usual troubles with rabbits and pigeons seem pretty insignificant.

 

[Wayland]

Wild boars accounted for injuries to more hunters in the medieval world than wolves and bears put together.

I think it's great they're running around in the woods again.

 

[Omegarod]

Wild boars accounted for injuries to more hunters in the medieval world than wolves and bears put together.

I think it's great they're running around in the woods again.

But not in MY woods thankyouverymuch.

BBC: In January 2008, an aggressive boar had to be shot at Ruardean Primary School.

This is the animal in question. It was in the school playground, actually minding its own business eating windfall apples. This photo was taken by my wife..... just before "they" decided that it would be easier to shoot it than try to relocate it.

BBC: Boars also damaged a football pitch at Ruspidge last year while a number of gardeners have complained of damage.

That's the least of the problems. I live in Ruspidge. The boar are now in gardens all over the place, and also raiding dustbins (trash cans). I walk the forest all around here almost every day, and I always see turned over patches of earth. You can't take a walk anywhere without seeing signs of boar. So far I have only seen the boar from a distance, but they have been known to attack people, and particularly people with dogs.

They're a damned nuisance, and dangerous too.

Rod

 

[Leigh Robinson]

Reintroduce predators like wolves, that should balance things out a bit and add a bit of spice to our woods!

 

[Tengu]

Oh dont be a wuss.

wait untill they grow a little BIGGER...

 

[durulz]

I'm quite a fussy meat eater. But a couple of years ago, outside the British Museum, there was a burger van selling wild boar burgers. I really don't like game meats at all, but I do love pork, and so felt intrigued enough to give it a go.
Bloody lovely!

 

[bigmace]

My uncle said he saw a wild boar in his woods in Devon, time to test some traps this summer me thinks. Spit roast.

 

[Glosfisher]

The minus side to wild boar populations in this country is that they will damage ancient woodland and eat bluebells and other herbaceous plants associated with long established woodland.

The plus side is that they will attack dogs roaming through woods that should be leashed. I'm getting increasingly fed up with countryside access and management policies being dictated by dog owners, many of whom seem to view the countryside's only function as somewhere for their uncontrolled animals to defecate. I went down to the New Forest National Park this weekend (I was born and lived within its bounds for 20 years) and was horrified by the sheer number of unleashed dogs, yet you're not allowed to collect sticks anymore!.

 

[_scorpio_]

i think its great they are wandering around. they should make a law saying you cant kill the feeding sows but can kill for food any others apart from the very young ones. would make wild camping more fattening lol!

 

[Wayne]

I like to see a few large mammals in the British countryside. They are sometimes a nuisance and cause damage to property but wild boar are native to the British landscape and if the French can cope with a very large boar population then why can't we.

 

[Martin1]

I think it great too. The more wild animals the better.
If theres any culling to be done it should be to the myriads of chavs and scum on estates breeding like rabbits.
It wasn't the wild boar what stole my motorcycle, it wasn't the wild boar what vandalised (in the dead of night of course) and smashed the mirror off my first ever car I have ever owned a few months back, it wasn't the wild boar which snapped all the saplings over and over again planted locally, it wasn't the wild boar what throws litter and bottles everywhere, and its not the Wild Boar my aged mother is afeared of when she goes out. . . . and on and on...

 

[Wayne]

I think it great too. The more wild animals the better.
If theres any culling to be done it should be to the myriads of chavs and scum on estates breeding like rabbits.
It wasn't the wild boar what stole my motorcycle, it wasn't the wild boar what vandalised (in the dead of night of course) and smashed the mirror off my first ever car I have ever owned a few months back, it wasn't the wild boar which snapped all the saplings over and over again planted locally, it wasn't the wild boar what throws litter and bottles everywhere, and its not the Wild Boar my aged mother is afeared of when she goes out. . . . and on and on...

Martin you having a bad day?

 

[Martin1]

Martin you having a bad day?

Heck no. ha. This is me on a good day!
I cant put on here what I would do. I'd get banned!

 

[Omegarod]

BBC: Forest of Dean Deputy Surveyor, Rob Guest, said: "People have been threatened or attacked, we've had at least three dogs torn apart by the boar.

"We've had a number of horses attacked and thrown riders, we've had boar in gardens and there's a risk to children in the gardens."

"So the number one requirement is to address the potential threat to public safety."

Wayne: I like to see a few large mammals in the British countryside. They are sometimes a nuisance and cause damage to property but wild boar are native to the British landscape and if the French can cope with a very large boar population then why can't we.

Wayne. Wild boar were last native here over 700 years ago! (Wolves only 160 years ago). Frankly, with today's human populations it just isn't at all practical to reintroduce either, especially as they don't have any predators. Its just downright foolish to reintroduce such dangerous animals in such close proximity to humans. Indeed, I can no longer take my dogs out with me when I go walking in the forest, and I am acutely aware of having to be on the lookout just about every day here.

Humans have been attacked without provocation. Fortunately as yet only tears to legs and no fatalities. What happens when the first child is killed here? Its only a matter of time.

Rod

 

[akabu]

Your farmers will not be happy nor will you if they run a muck as the eat just about anything rabbits, birds and you have no preds.
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Sus_scrofa.html

 

[hog]

There was a time when certain folk would have seen this as a bumper crop.

 

[Wayne]

Wild Boar thrive in France and the rest of Europe I have sat watching a sow with her piglets from no more than 15m. At no time was I threatened. Yes they are large and have a potential for causing harm. This summer I was in practising Bushcraft in the Northwest Territories Canada with the largest population of Grizzly Bears outside of Alaska.

Whilst I am sorry Rod that they are having a negative impact on you I think from a conservation and ecological perspective its great to have them back in the UK.

Deer populations have to managed and so will the boar. That is a fact of life.