| There it goes again -- this time it's cull the wild boars 22:05 - Aug 21 with 1095 views | Davillin |
p.s. Before you read the article, which I have reproduced below, please tell us whether you have ever encountered a wild boar in the U.K. [p.s.#2 My friends and neighbors report sighting black bears, including sows with cubs, between here and the woods, which begin two streets up the hill from me.]
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Animal Activists Vow to Stop Planned Wild Boar Cull in Forest of Dean
Forestry Commission to shoot animals after explosion in numbers sparks debate on safety of region's residents
Steven Morris
The Guardian, Thursday 21 August 2014 11.29 EDT
Drew Pratten was walking home through the forest by the light of a low moon when he found himself in the middle of a sounder — a group of wild boar. "It was a primeval experience," he said. "I was face to face with a big male. He growled and I felt it in the pit of my stomach rather than heard it. Then he turned and trotted off. It wasn't a frightening experience, it was thrilling, cathartic."
In the coming weeks, Pratten and 40-odd other animal activists will be confronting a potentially much more hazardous threat when they take on the high-powered rifles of government rangers who have been charged with reducing the number of boar in the Forest of Dean.
Pratten and his fellow saboteurs say they will use lawful direct action to halt the cull in the Gloucestershire woods, even putting themselves between the shooters and their targets if necessary. "It will be easy to stop them," said Pratten. "The forest is crisscrossed with public paths. And they have to stick close to the tracks because they need a vehicle to get the carcasses away. We'll move bait, we'll come into the forest and scare the boar away from the guns. If necessary, we'll be out there when they're trying to shoot."
The activists also have the advantage of experience. Many of them, including Pratten, are veterans of last year's badger cull in Gloucestershire and say they know how to keep a step ahead of the marksmen. "We've mapped the forest out and divided it up. We all have our own zones to patrol. We're determined. They say it's control; we think it's mass slaughter and could wipe out the wild boar in the forest."
Opinions about the boar in the Forest of Dean — a tucked away region wedged between the river Severn and the Welsh mountains — are strong and varied.
Boar became extinct in England 300 years ago, but in the 1990s a group escaped from a farm on the edge of the forest and 10 years ago another 60 were released without authorisation. Since then they have spread and bred, and the sight of a boar rootling on a roadside verge or crossing a footpath is no longer extraordinary.
Many local people and visitors are charmed, others are worried. The Forestry Commission, the government department that manages more than 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) of land here, defines the boar as "feral" — wild, but descended from domesticated breeds — and claims they have a "significant impact" on residents and visitors. It says they dig up grassland in search of food and have damaged play areas, sports pitches, caravan parks,gardens and golf courses.
The commission claims some dogwalkers are afraid to walk their pets in the forest and a few householders have said they are too frightened to go out if there are boar around. It says "many people" have reported being chased by boar and reports that last year there were more road accidents involving boar than deer. It concedes that low numbers of boar benefit the ecology of the forest, because their rootling breaks up the earth, helping insects and plants to flourish. But it argues repeated rootling leads to bare, barren mud — and that this may have led to a decline in butterfly numbers.
This year, the commission carried out a survey of the boar and concluded there were more than 800 in the forest — a rise of about 300 since 2013. It argues that feral populations may remain low for many years — and then expand.
It is not only the saboteurs that disagree with the commission's stance. David Slater, a wildlife photographer based in the forest and member of the Friends of the Boar group, claimed the cull was a way of the commission making money by selling boar meat. "The forest is becoming a private game park," he said.
Slater and another group, the UK Wild Boar Association, believe the commission is exaggerating the number of boar and the threat they pose. They worry that if the commission culls the boar severely it could lead to them becoming extinct in the West Country again.
Wild boar with piglets, Forest of Dean A wild boar with piglets in the Forest of Dean. Activists say any threat boars pose is exaggerated. Photograph: David J Slater/www.djsphotography.co.uk
Scott Passmore, a spokesman for the association, said he believed the boar numbers were stabilising naturally. "I think the UK authorities have a problem in general with wild animals," he said. "We see it in the attitude to the badgers, to the deer, to the gulls in the city centres. There seems to be a suspicion about wild animals."
Forest of Dean district council has passed a motion supporting the commission's culling plans. The boar question is also always on the agenda of a venerable body called the Verderers, who have existed since the 13th century to protect the greenery, the deer and the boar for the king and queen.
They want the boar to remain, partly so that royalty can exercise their right to a share of the meat if they so choose, but they agree with the commission that the numbers should be controlled.
Walk into any pub in the forest and you will find strong anti-boar views. Retired engineer Peter Remnant is typical. "They are a pest and should be got rid of. They have no natural predators and need to be sorted." he said. "These do-gooders who want to protect them are outsiders who don't know what they are talking about."
A range of alternatives to shooting the boar have been suggested but so far disregarded. Some promote the idea of limiting the numbers through contraception or relocating the animals. A more radical but unlikely solution is to introduce a predator such as the lynx.
Coalition ministers, criticised over the badger cull (as well as the idea they floated of controlling buzzards to protect pheasant shoots and trapping beavers that have colonised a river in Devon), will be keen not to be drawn into the boar row.
Government policy views managing boar as a matter for local communities. A spokeswoman for the Forestry Commission said it had a "mandate" from the district council and parish councils to cull the boar.
Young male boar rooting up woodland floor Young male boar rooting up the woodland floor in the Forest of Dean. Photograph: David J Slater/www.djsphotography.co.uk
She said trained staff would carry out the cull with the same rifles they use for controlling deer numbers. She denied the cull was about making money, though she confirmed carcasses judged fit for human consumption were sent off to a game dealer. She said rangers would "work around any individuals" who try to disrupt the cull "always ensuring safety considerations are the highest priority".
The boar were keeping themselves to themselves when the Guardian visited. But just a few metres from the front door of the Speech House Hotel, a 17th-century hunting lodge where the Verderers' court meets, Drew Pratten pointed out the signs of the creatures' presence — the scuffed earth where they had been foraging for insects and roots, the flattened bracken where they had slept. The path is damp even in dry weather — perfect boar territory.
"It feels good to me that they are here. They are native creatures," said Pratten. "They have a right to be here and not to be terrorised and exterminated."
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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/21/wild-boar-forest-of-dean-acti |  |
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| There it goes again -- this time it's cull the wild boars on 22:32 - Aug 21 with 1074 views | Thursday |
I've heard that all of my friends have been around crashing boars, but I never saw one. |  | | |
| There it goes again -- this time it's cull the wild boars on 23:35 - Aug 21 with 1027 views | Dyfnant |
Around 90 were shot in woods in swansea recently by the RSPCA. Don't know if they'd be classed as wild boars exactly, but the were loose black pigs that had bred wild to that number |  |
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| There it goes again -- this time it's cull the wild boars on 01:16 - Aug 22 with 997 views | Davillin |
| There it goes again -- this time it's cull the wild boars on 22:32 - Aug 21 by Thursday |
I've heard that all of my friends have been around crashing boars, but I never saw one. |
There's a fine for puns, you know. It's called "the pun fine."
You're in luck, however, as the pun fine is waived when the pun is funny. | |
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| There it goes again -- this time it's cull the wild boars on 08:37 - Aug 22 with 942 views | ApeShit |
This has been happening for years in Australia, a mate of mine had a job out there shooting them. |  | | |
| There it goes again -- this time it's cull the wild boars on 08:43 - Aug 22 with 936 views | Neath_Jack |
| There it goes again -- this time it's cull the wild boars on 08:37 - Aug 22 by ApeShit |
This has been happening for years in Australia, a mate of mine had a job out there shooting them. |
What a boaring thread. |  |
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| There it goes again -- this time it's cull the wild boars on 13:40 - Aug 22 with 881 views | Davillin |
| There it goes again -- this time it's cull the wild boars on 08:37 - Aug 22 by ApeShit |
This has been happening for years in Australia, a mate of mine had a job out there shooting them. |
It's happening in the States, too. Mostly in the South. Pigs have large litters, are very hardy, and quite intelligent. | |
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