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| Centre pages of The Wye Valley & Forest of Dean Review 26th February 2016 |
“Wild boar are on the rampage through Gloucestershire, so the Council
has sent a team to Germany to see how they cope with the menace”. “Boar rampage through Coleford.” “Boar
attacks man for the first time in 300 years!”
These are some of the headlines in the national and local press back in
2008-9. Nothing changes it seems. But a
recent report paid for by the Forestry Commission concludes that headlines like
these have been largely responsible for much of the fear in the minds of
residents here in our forest.
“I’m scared to leave my house, a prisoner in my own home”, claimed one
resident. And it is often the older
residents who are scared because they are the least likely people to see a
boar, and now they’re unwilling to go and enjoy Nature’s wonders on their
doorstep. Such fear-mongering can cause
real yet unnecessary distress.
Dutch scientists published a recent report on the public’s perception
of wild boar and wolves – two species on their border and heading their
way. Comparing the results with those
from people who had seen boar and wolves, it was clear that fear of the boar
and wolf dramatically lessened once seen; or “truth will out”.
The Forestry Commission’s recent report, “Social Aspects of Wild Boar”, authored by Dutton, Clayton
and Evans at the University of Worcester (2015), differs from the Dutch study
because more people have seen a wild boar here than the Dutch people.
Back in 2009-10 hardly a soul had seen a boar here, and the press was
creating a false fear. Do you remember the Review’s
front page image of Hogzilla, the American giant hog as big as a pony? And remember the worry that, “It’s only a
matter of time before a child gets killed”, in the Forester? And then came the headline in 2010, “Warning
after Wild Boar savages greyhound”.
Loaded language and fear was everywhere until it slowly got through,
thanks to Friends of the Boar, that our boar are pure boar, puny compared to
the hybridised hogs of America. People began
to research that wild boar only attack people who are causing them harm or
distress, and the same goes for dogs too, like the greyhound. Boar in Europe are the same as ours,
including at times, a tameness.
We don’t hear about fear now.
We have anger. Residents have
been put through the mill by the press and the Forestry Commission, unfairly
targeted to fear for our safety, then our dogs, and now we have to get angry at
the mess and “out of control” breeding.
We are not encouraged to repair the mess, or the battered fences (eg.
The Dilke), nor put things into perspective.
So let me try. Maybe, one day,
someone will actually get hurt, either hitting a boar in a speeding car, or
getting knocked over by a boar. Are we
so risk averse we wish to kill animals because of this? No. About 70 people a year are killed or
seriously hurt by cows in the UK! 60
die from wasps & bees. 1 or 2 get
an adder’s bite. But the most dangerous animal is the dog. Half of children get bitten by a dog, and
injuries by dogs are the second most common childhood injury to be seen in
A&E. Boar are safe to all good
meaning people and dogs, but accidents may one day occur.
And the mess? Compared to the
devastation left behind by the Forestry Commission’s loggers, boar diggings are
nothing. Metre-deep ruts abound,
waterlogged and hazardous to walkers.
So much so a lady had to be rescued a couple of years ago after becoming
stuck in the Forestry Commission’s mess!
Rutted verges, with logs piled high (and dangerous), have become
compacted deserts for plant life.
Driving the roads you won’t see this.
Take a walk!
The Forest of Dean is almost devoid of insects and butterflies, the
things that plants need for pollination and birds need for food. The micro-organisms in the soil struggle
with repeated compaction, unable to breathe the air.
How insincere and scientifically flawed were recent comments from Kevin
Stannard about the boar threatening the butterflies. Butterflies require
flowers on sunny forest rides - something his office destroys. And species like the small-pearl bordered
fritillary requires young bracken, not the huge overgrowths we get thanks to
his management.
The wild boar rotivate the forest floor and its sunny grass margins
(tracks and roadsides). Uncompacting
the terrible damage caused by the logging, they allow air into the soil as
every good gardener and farmer knows.
The boars are Nature’s ploughs.
They’re seed-banks too, caught in the fur as they forage around the
forest. They disperse as well as churn up deeply buried seeds giving the flora
a chance.
The wild boar not only reverse the ecological disaster created by the
Forestry operations, but they also reverse the damaging impact that free
roaming sheep and deer cause. Sheep and
deer are both introduced, non-native species to the Forest (unlike the boar
that are native). They also cause
compaction of the soil, but worst of all they nibble away at any soft shoots of
grass and flowers that dare raise themselves through the sterile soil, all caused
by man and his non-native stock of meat.
Bracken and bramble are the few tough plants to survive this.
Contrast this to the boar. They
dig the soil and crush the bracken, an invasive and carcinogenic plant that
swamps out light and out-competes the more delicate flora. The bracken slowly regroups, allowing the
small pearl-bordered fritillary a chance of survival in the shorter shoots,
contrary to Mr. Stannard’s belief.
Friends of the Boar, and other wildlife fans have been trying to get
this message across for years, about the ecological benefits of boar. George Monbiot, a journalist and ecologist,
as well as Dr. George Peterken (also a local resident), a respected ecologist,
both support the ecological necessity of the boar. Dr. Peterken, whose books you may find for sale in local
bookshops, stresses the benefits to the flora.
Mr. Monbiot is an outspoken critic of sheep in our woodlands and
uplands, blaming the “white curse” on recent flooding events. Yes, sheep and deer strip the uplands and
forests of vegetation, compacting the soil, and thus destroying the natural
ability to store rain and slow down the runoff into rivers and towns. Monbiot
argues for the return of boar.
I’ve visited many people in the Forest who are anti-boar. From people
who have had their gardens damaged, to those angered over amenity spaces, such
as in Ruardean and Joys Green. Not only
have Friends of the Boar helped repair gardens of people in genuine need of
help, I often put back overturned sods when out walking, pondering with some
frustration why we can’t all do this!
Freshly dug turf is so easy to kick back with a swish of the foot.
I even went on the local news to demonstrate this after the boar
“rampaged” into my home town of Coleford one night, “devastating” an elderly
man’s lawn. Except that it wasn’t a
lawn but a roadside, and it was a small lone boar that calmly walked into town,
shallowly digging an area no bigger than a kitchen. Ah, the press!
Each time I drive through Parkend in the winter and see, with some
regularity, the roadside diggings. I pray that one-day some of the residents
will just “push” the turves back into place, restoring their village and taking
pride in its appearance. I find it
therapeutic like a jigsaw puzzle. But
in 5 years of hoping, I’m still waiting (apologies to anyone of has, please
keep it up). And yes, the boar often
return and dig it all up again. But
keep on having pride in your village, the boar will leave after 2-3 days, and
who knows, those grass verges may see red poppies and yellow hawkbit return,
and then the butterflies and bees, as they have across many roadsides in the
Forest.
A few people who hate the boar have physically threatened me. I don’t know why, but just because someone
wants to see the boar here doesn’t mean they were responsible for their
re-introduction! In fact, the
re-introduction of the boar remains a mystery.
The main theory is that a boar farmer in Abergavenny had had enough, and
knowing the area around Staunton decided one night to dispatch a few in a large
roadside lay-by.
Initial reports were of a dozen or so released in November of
2004. This number had expanded by 2006
to be 25-30, by which time the boar had spread deeper into the forest. No one but keen naturalists and forest
rangers saw them. I remember seeing the
photographs (of local naturalist Chris Ridler) of these boars at a local
Wldlife Trust evening in 2005. But in
2006, the Commission’s wildlife ranger Neil Sollis was interviewed for a
magazine, in which he stated, “We’ve no idea
where the two groups of boar in Dean, about 60 all told, are from, although we
do know that they’re pure wild boar." He continues to say they are almost all juveniles.
So we now learnt that 2 groups of boar existed, each numbering about
30. The journalist (Angus Watson –
Google it!) continues, "They cast a
wary eye over us humans, then it’s snouts down to gobble the feed that Neil
laid down earlier".
This is interesting, because not only do we have 2 boar sounders (?)
joining forces in 2006, they were tame enough for the Forestry Commission to be
able to feed them and watch them at close quarters. Film crews soon followed, literally paying homage to the Forestry
Commission’s well-fed boar.
The origin of this other group of boar had remained largely a
secret. They originated from Chase and
Penyard hills near Ross-on-Wye, after escaping a local farm about 1999. They survived in this tiny patch of woodland
for 5 years, un-noticed. In 2006 they
had met up with the boar from Staunton, and despite a few encounters with
tourists and a farmer’s high-seat at Symonds Yat, remained elusive until about
2007. In 2009, the Commission put the
totals population at 90, a figure adopted by the Council. From 60 to 90 in 5 years! Who says boar are prolific breeders? Only when shot they are, which began in
2008!
It just so happens that between 1999 and March 2004, the thoughts of
re-introducing boar into a UK Forest was developing, and DEFRA wanted to know
how easy it would be to re-capture them if it turned out to be a disaster. They paid the Forestry Commission to manage
a project at Chase and Penyard, where cages were laid to trap the boar. It was followed more intensively throughout
2004 in a separate project, resulting in 59 boar overall being trapped in cages;
31 in the first project and 28 in the second.
The trapped boars were nearly all juveniles and seemingly use to being
fed and baited by the Forestry Commission under Rob Guest.
In 2011, Kevin Stannard suddenly proclaimed in his management strategy plan
(2011-2016) that 60 boar were released at Staunton. This has gone unquestioned ever since.
Also in 2011, Stannard was making noises to increase the viable
population of boar from 90 (set in 2009) to 400. He was claiming about 800-1,000 boar existed in the Forest in
2011, based upon thermal imaging surveys in 2010 and 2011 (when 16 and 34 boar
were seen respectively). This census
and its methodology is legend as much as it is flawed. It continues and is called
distance-sampling. I don’t wish to “boar”
you with the dry details of why this method is just about the worst available,
but do please visit www.friendsoftheboar.info
for the details.
In short, the boar population that we read about is massively
inflated. Our Forest simply cannot
sustain even 400 boar let alone 1,000.
Boars are limited by density of numbers, which really means limited by
available food and most critically shelter – shelter we see continually
disturbed and harvested for timber.
Studies over decades conclusively show that densities of 3-4 boar per
square kilometre are what is sustainable in the UK. That means, with our wooded area of 70-80 square kilometres,
200-350 boar will exist peacefully.
When piglets are born, almost always 6 to a litter, once a year only,
the population suddenly inflates, albeit on tiny trotters, and density
increases. Many die naturally, but as
the survivors greet the summer warmth, the pressure for some boar to move out
increases to recover the density to 3-4.
The exodus occurs each Autumn-Winter.
Extra feeding, as done excessively by the Forestry Commission for 12
years, inflates this number leading to more boar “invading” farmland and
villages. Also, the mismanagement of the cull can inflate numbers. When piglets are shot, a sow (maybe even
unrelated to mum) will come into season immediately, thereby producing more
piglets that year. Such mismanagement
is akin to farming the boar. Piglets
have always made up 75% of the cull each year, as detailed in the larder
reports I’ve obtained. As piglets are
shot, more are produced, making a mockery of the claim that cull totals somehow
relate to population. They do not. Piglets make great barbeques, and the
Forestry Commission sells these direct to the customer. Older boars are sold to a game dealer in
Hereford.
These facts and others are never disclosed by the Commission. The lack of information, misinformation and
even disinformation is a huge criticism of the Commission in its own recent
study!
What I suggest is that the boar should be left alone in the forest so
their density and social structure remain healthy. Mr. Stannard needs to balance his books another way. Each year the excess boar leave the forest,
often using the same exit points. High
seats should be set up by landowners who may charge hunters to use them. The hunters take the boar, making sure none
are scared back into the forest.
Profits from the meat sales should go into a social fund to compensate
genuine victims of boar damage. All of
this negates the need to accurately know the population and how many boar are
being poached etc. The boars will limit
themselves naturally to between 200 and 350, and as we all know in the summer
months (when the population is at a maximum), often hide away unnoticed in the
forest. That is, until the cull resumes
in the Autumn.
Hunting in the forest is a disaster and lessons should be learnt from
Germany – do not hunt boar in woodland!
They come into town during the cull, all stressed, possibly agitated
enough to attack dogs (often used to hunt boar both in Germany and here). A recent incident of a boar goring a dog at
Lydney Park Hunting Estate is one such example of a boar becoming fearful of
hunting dogs like Spaniels.
