Hunting British wild boar

There are thousands of feral and wild boar roaming the British countryside's darker woods, and shooting them has become an established sport. We review the state of British wild boar in Britain today - in Kent's Ashdown Forest and in the Galloway Forest in Scotland, where one boar gets a bit too close for comfort! And we look at how it's done in Croatia. This film first appeared in Fieldsports Britain, episode 13. To watch the whole show go to http://Fcha.nl/fieldsportsbritain13

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Why shoot wild boar?
Wild boar were once native to Great Britain but became extinct more than 300 years ago. Following escapes or deliberate releases from wild boar farms from the 1980s, they have now established breeding populations in the wild including Kent and East Sussex in the South-East of England, Dorset, Devon and the Forest of Dean in the South-West, and parts of Scotland. DEFRA estimates the current population at around 500 in the established colonies. Local wildlife managers estimate it at nearer 5,000.

Wild boar are omnivorous and approximately 400 species of plants and animals have been reported to be part of their diet. Their habit of rooting through the floor of woodland and pasture leaves a clear indicator of their presence. They will take both eggs and nestlings of ground-nesting birds and can damage crops, gamebird release pens and game feeders. Damage to agriculture can also be extensive and concerns have been raised regarding collisions with traffic. Boar have no natural predators in the UK meaning culls are necessary to control population growth.

Wild boar are susceptible to the same diseases as domestic pigs and therefore have the potential to spread infectious disease such as swine fever, foot & mouth and Aujesky’s disease (Gow, 2002; Natural England, 2007).

To read the DEFRA wild boar action plan, visit http://www.britishpigs.org.uk/feralwildboar.pdf