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| Blackleaf |
Farmers warn of wild boar dangersWild boar, fierce wild pigs, were once common across England, but were hunted to extinction here. But now they seem to have made a comeback and their numbers are increasing each year. And they can be dangerous as numerous farmers have warned. Last week, a woman was rescued by her dog after she was savaged by two wild boar.------------------------------------------------------- Farmers warn of wild boar dangers 
I wouldn't get one of these ugly brutes angry. A stalker had been hired on one farm to tackle wild boars. An increase in the reported number of wild boar roaming woodlands in certain parts of England has raised concern for the safety of farm animals. Farming leaders in the West Midlands blamed the tusked animal for savaging livestock, damaging crops and impregnating pig sows in the region. In one incident, a farmer said a wild boar chased 19 of his heifers across fields into a neighbouring farm at Coughton, near Alcester, Warwickshire, and attacked a pregnant cow. The National Farmers' Union warned the nocturnal beasts could be dangerous to the public after a woman riding a horse in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, was also chased. Matthew Price, group secretary of the NFU in Ledbury and Ross-on-Wye, said he was concerned by the animals. "My main concern is public safety, both from the boar and from people who try shooting them," he said. "A sow with piglets is extremely dangerous. They are impressively large creatures, very fast and aggressive. In my opinion they are dangerous things. "The population is fairly prolific. I have noticed a rise over the last two to three years." Mr Price said some farmers had shot wild boar after they caused considerable crop damage and a professional stalker had been hired on one farm to thin out the population. news.bbc.co.uk |
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| Morph |
Why the sudden rise in the Boar population? | ||||
| SLG |
I'm surprised to hear about any truly wild boar in England. I think farmed 'wild boar' are becoming popular here though. Mibee they are just escapees. | ||||
| Barny Rubble |
There's loads of them in Germany especially in the Black Forest. | ||||
| SLG |
Mibee some of them have been stowing away on lorries to get into England... | ||||
| Morph |
bloody immigrants!!! 
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| Barny Rubble |
And why not nearly everthing and everyone is doing so a few wild porkers wouldn't make any difference.
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| pogofish |
There are plenty of escapees from boar farms going back to nature in the wild places. Not just in England either, Scotland has several confirmed colonies. My work monitors one of them.
Frankly, apart from digging-up the odd field & a bit of scavenging the bins in winter, they don't come in contact with humans very often & certainly don't seek-us out. In fact their preferred habitat is dense & undisturbed forest. Anyone encountering one should use the same caution you use around deer, especially if they are likley to have young nearby. Just let them on their way or step slowly back. Don't provoke them to charge or approach an injured animal - most of the recorded boar-human incidents seem to involve provocation or injury - especially hitting them with cars. In nearly all cases, the boar will be more timid than you & will get out of the way first. 
Also remember that as a formerly native species, they have at least as much right to be there as we do - if not considerably more!
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| SLG |
That's really interesting pogofish. I'd not heard that before. Can you tell us roughly where these colonies are?
You are absolutely right, I have no problem with them being there provided they are not causing any serious damage. I'd like to see more native species reintroduced into certain areas. |
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| Barny Rubble |
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| Wolf of Badenoch |
Aye weel if i encounter wan doon the street coming back fae getting ma messages it`ll be gaun in the pot. 
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| pogofish |
Argyll & Strathclude mainly, with some in Galloway & the N.East. Strathcur is the one we keep an eye-on, mainly because of our other wildlife work in the area. About the only places where serious damage occurs are where there has been a large-scale escape & far too many beasts are competing for food in a small area. A prime example would be that farm in Devon/Cornwall last year, where animal extremists released a hundred or more in one go. Which was about as crazy an idea as you could get & did their cause & the boars welfare no favours at all. Normally, boars range over large territories & keep others out. We are working on it! Wolf re-introduction is another of our long-term interests.
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| SLG |
Cheers, just curious to know if I should expect to bump into some in the parts of the country I'm in regularly. I think it's great news that they are being tolerated in the wild.
I remember hearing about calls for wolves (along with other native species) to be reintroduced a while back. Are you still hopeful? Beavers were knocked back just recently, no? I would have thought that if they refuse to allowed beavers to be reintroduced, there would be little hope for wolves. Is it mainly just farmers that stand in the way? |
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| pogofish |
Highly unlikley, normally they will hear you & be off long before you see them. The beavers were also ours. TBH, we have no idea what happened there, especially after an entirely favourable pre-licence review but we will be continuing the programme, I'd guess it is only matter of time. Wolves are a different matter as there is a very serious problem that needs attention - namely deer overpopulation. This works in the wolves favour as the Deer Commission's cull has been a badly implemented mess, that has served only to alienate them from the people on the ground. Few farmers are against us, indeed we have plenty begging to be added to the trial area as deer are already doing so much damage. Most opposition is from people well out of area who regard seem to regard the uplands as some sort of public park & whose attitude to nature is shaped by disney films & the like. Again, there are several schemes on the go - some better thought-out than others but eventually it is simply inevitable that one or more of them will happen as the need for a high-level predator is unquestioned. |
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| the bard of keppoch |
animal rights activists liberated a massive herd of farmed boar about 4 month ago,chech out the countrymans weekly for or the countryside allaince for info,also what does people on here make of the hunting act | ||||
| pogofish |
Mixed feelings. For Scotland, it had little relavance anyway as Hollyrood had enacted its own legislation & even then, most of the (few remaining) hunts in Scotland had converted to drag-hunts longsince. The other part of me feels that despite genuine concerns about the effectiveness & methods employed in hunting, it should have been left alone as it was a traditional part of life for many communities & that the whole campaign suffered from people pushing other political agendas - on both sides. All-in, a bad taste that has resulted in impractical & fundamentally unworkable legislation that satisfies nobody. |
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| the bard of keppoch |
pogo it has got relevance in scotland ? also im not on about the mounted hunts,im on about your average man who does a bit of fox control (for the local farming community)with his terriers,and it is now illegal to use terriers to ground if a fox is killing lambs ? But if there is gamebirds on the land for shooting partys to pay to shoot,then it is legal to use a baying type terrier(e.g jack russels) to ground if that fox is praying on the pheasants etc, but if i want to help farmer joe shift a fox to ground for killing his lambs,then it is illegal, it is a terrible law and the whole hunting act should be repealed | ||||
| azzuri |
I've got to be honest, it's not something I've ever really thought about.
Although I grew up in a semi-rural area, hunting was not realy part of the local tradition and I've never really known either way what is the 'right' thing to do with the legislation. I can't say it affects the life of your average joe bloggs but then it was mostly these folk that were shouting for it to be banned. Most 'townies' only really see the pain caused to the hunted animal but not all of the problems that pests such as foxes cause in the coutryside. |
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| the bard of keppoch |
az,the whole countryside was against the ban,the people who live and work there,and who truly understand the countrysides needs and the way it works,also as me being an average guy,i cant take my dogs out to course a hare which i have been doing for as long as my memory serves me and digging the odd lamb killer,az look into this in 1997 before the elections,an animal rights movement i forgot the exact name,donated £1million to the labour party,have a wee look into it and see if you can post something up about it | ||||
| Morph |
couldn't find much on it Bard but searching did throw up this
not sure weather this is pro hunting or not if anyone can help, the third colum reffers to the size of the donation the 4th the previous years donation http://users.powernet.co.uk/hack/sleaze/ |
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| SLG |
All pretty dodgy as usual. Looks like money from a seemingly legit animal welfare charity was being channeled through PAL and into political parties (esp Labour). They don't care who they get their money from eh? From this site: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Political_Animal_Lobby.
Of course Tony Banks died earlier this year. |
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| the bard of keppoch |
that million pound is no more than a bride in my eyes,the country didnt need a hunting act,the countryside said no,but money talks when it comes to new labour, | ||||
| pogofish |
Not nearly as much as it had for England. What was it, about 6 traditional hunts left here before the ban came-in? I always find a powerful spotlight/rifle/nightsight combination is the best thing to get rid of foxes. IIRC, terriers can still be used to trace an occupied den/run (although admittedly, it is a while since I did any fox-related work). These & other more efficent methods of control remain largely unaffected, except maybe by licencing & considering the damage caused to other animals by poorly placed snares/traps etc, that might be no bad thing? But yes, it should indeed be replaced with something better thought-out. |
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| the bard of keppoch |
i cant go on a dig now without there being a gun present,i dont have a licence,so i need to rely on a busy farmer to be there when i brake through to fox,which is impossible for him to be there at exact times as hes just to much work to get through,other friends with licences are commited at other shoots,married etc,etc, so what this act does to me personslly is it restricts me big time to carry out effective pest control (fox) | ||||