[BBC] Wild Boar return to Britain's Forests 2008.03.20

Examining the implications of the return of this formerly indigenous creature.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• BBC
• News
• Wild
• Boar
• UK
• Britain
• England
• Forest
• of
• Dean
• forestry
• population
• cull
• wildlife
• habitat
• diverse
• ecosystem

[nbelt1919]

Wild boar should stay in Britain, they were a native species to britain and were inhabiting the country long before man started destroying the forests so really wild boar have more of a right to stay in wild parts of britain more than we do.

[hebrideanwolfdogs]

yeah, they were here before we were... bring them up to scotland, we actually like wildlife up here.

[MrWiLDAPEMAN]

Get some wolves and bears in the uk, they will control the deer and boar population and make britain's wildlife more interesting

[Ukabumba]

white people.....

[BH206L3]

In pre 1945 Great Britain, they would just go hunting . You shoot them, and then you roast them and you then eat. Not rocket science. Common Sense left there a long time ago. Not surprising John Rigby and Sons left for The States some time ago.

[TheRockomb]

@Silkie341

what?

[Silkie341]

We don't really like wild animals in England. Scotland is full of feral savage creatures and some wild life outside of the cities as well.

[shadowkitty56]

@peteacher52 predators like the lynx: the cat isn't big enough to take down adults, but it will snatch juveniles easily. Reintroducing predators probably won't sit well with the highborn nitwits that see hunting as their birthright and exclusive privilege, but the UK is sworn to EU treaties that bind it to reintroducing native species...

Time to put your money where your mouth is, peteacher!

[shadowkitty56]

@peteacher52 its return is something to be celebrated, not mourned: they are a known seed disperser and overturning the soil makes it more fertile. That being said, Britain is also going to have to invest in managing it as its population grows: hazing a boar with rubber bullets and dogs (and even allowing for hunting) might be a boon as boars that are scared of hunters are also scared of wandering into an apple orchard...where the smell reeks of humans. It shall also have to reintroduce

[shadowkitty56]

@peteacher52 sending an American bulldog or pitbull to hold them, shooting them, and then taking home the prize to butcher and eat. (Down in the South, sometimes a Christmas ham can help the environment after all.)

American hunters kill the pigs because if they didn't it would mean a beast destroying the environment. That is the difference. Britain needs to realize that this animal IS a part of the landscape that has been lost for too long, and

[shadowkitty56]

@peteacher52 Though America does have predators that can eat the pigs (you never see a skinny black bear running around the mountains) it also suffers from the damage they do to the ecosystem. The only known response that keeps the numbers from going crazy is to hunt the beasts, a modern version of what went down in Britain in the Middle Ages-tracking them down with hounds, cornering them into an area where they can't escape, CONT

[shadowkitty56]

@peteacher52 Sorry Charlie, but it doesn't quite work that way. In the U.S., there is a sizeable population of razorbacks (hybrids between escaped domestic pigs and wild boar, inheriting the size of the former but the instincts of the latter. This is a beast that was never native to the U.S. and does sizeable damage to the forests and swamps and mountains it inhabits because the plants aren't adapted to the rooting behavior of pigs. The seeds of trees can't germinate effectively.