CLOSED-SEASON INTRODUCED AS AN EXPERIMENT

We are pleased to let everyone know that 2012 is going to be a good year for the wild boar here in the Forest of Dean.

A meeting on January 17th 2012 between the Forest of Dean District Council, the Forestry Commission, and Friends of the Boar led to a groundbreaking agreement that there will effectively be a closed season on wild boar culling in 2012.

We are obviously delighted with this outcome and give full credit to Kevin Stannard of the Forestry Commission, who proposed the move after much reasoned and friendly debate.

His decision to give a closed-season an experimental go is despite his recently adopted Boar Management Plan for 2012, and agreed to by the Verderers, to actually increase the cull target for 2012.  It is the Forestry Commission's firm opinion there are now 400-450 wild boar present as of 17th January 2012, even despite a recent cull of 153 boars!

Culling will now commence in September, giving the wild boar and their piglets every opportunity to prove to us all this summer that they are a welcome addition to this forest.

The main reasons for this trial are:

Uncertainties about wild boar population numbers;
Uncertainties with regard to the dangers of compensatory rebound effect;
Increased public acceptance over the last year, thanks largely to the celebrity black sow and her six piglets (now called the Cinderford Six - would be Seven but one was shot in Autumn 2011);
Costs of boar management.

For this trial to work in favour of the wild boar, Friends of the Boar hope for the following:

The public will become more educated about the behaviour and ecology of wild boar;
The public and also the Forestry Commission cease feeding the boar (as this promotes unnatural breeding success as well as unwelcome tameness and an increased traffic hazard).  Please all help to persuade anyone who feeds the boar to stop and help in this experiment.

The former hope is being promoted by the Council, who hope to engage in an education campaign as well as formulating a community task force aimed solely at wild boar and the community.

What is uncertain is the effect of the culling throughout the previous year or two.  If our worst suspicions come true (already publicly presented in the press and on this blog regarding a prediction of an unnatural excess of piglets in 2012 created by compensatory rebound effect, and increased number of tame boar as a byproduct), then this year is going to be a rough ride for all concerned.  When an animals' population has been distorted as we fear, it may take longer than one season for it to return to a natural state.

We therefore hope that the change in culling being switched to a September onwards one, will help to bring about the natural state more quickly.  Killing sows and piglets in the Spring and Summer, we believe, leads to serious problems with population dynamics as well as disease potential.  It may require more than one season....

Scientific studies have shown that culling in the autumn and winter creates a more healthy and sustainable population - and a major reason why there is a closed-seasons for all other game species - it is not just about animal welfare and the shocking thoughts about piglets being harmed. 

We have not taken kindly to press articles claiming we are calling for a closed-season to help the population "flourish"! 

A closed-season should hopefully alleviate a "flourishing" of numbers (given time and the bravery of the community in supporting this change of management strategy), at the same time as bringing less stress and greater health to the boar that survive.  This is sound and sustainable game management.

Now if this isn't enough to say cheers to the Forestry Commission, Kevin Stannard is also hoping to co-ordinate a locally-based  Symposium of lectures involving wild boar researchers and the community (including Friends of the Boar we assume).  We hope this to take place in September, just prior to the cull-season.  This is a huge opportunity for all to get more informed about wild boar and hear opinions and scientific findings from both sides of the debate (well, there are more than 2 sides to this debate actually!)  The Council are kindly hoping to help fund the cost of this Symposium.

What makes this all particularly special is the fact that Wild Boar are not just another animal, even though it may appear as such by the general public.  For more than 500 years, hunters as well as conservationists have been saddened by the loss of many of our ancient and indigenous forest animals.  With increasing environmental awareness over recent decades, the missing species have weighed heavily and sadly upon our psyche.  In more recent times there has been huge hopes in the re-introduction of some of these controversial creatures, beginning with beaver which has been realised in a small area of Scotland. 

Most people know of the desires of conservationists to re-introduce wolves, but hopes also lie with lynx, elk, auroch (or wild cow), pine marten and wild boar.  They are all controversial in their own ways and it has never really been seen as a project with any real hopes of fruition. 

The "accidental"  reintroduction of wild boar into the UK over the last 20 years has been a joy to observe by many, a re-introduction that had already been hotly debated with fears of public outcry, or of huge cash injections required to monitor etc.

Wild Boar have done the job all by themselves, and despite the cultural hang-ups over these animals, traditionally symbolised as aggressive and a great hunting prize, we have witnessed a more amicable and useful side to these animals.  They have in effect dispelled all by themselves the fear and propaganda that has for far too long be aimed at them.  If only we can train people to see boar diggings as a healthy sign of wildlife presence and a working, real-time process of engineering our forest back into a healthy more natural state full of flowers, ferns and food for insects, with less bracken!

Conservationists, wildlife enthusiasts, hunters, farmers and politicians from across the UK and even Europe, will soon be focusing their attentions, hopes as well as some fears upon the Forest of Dean this year. 

This is a truly special place.

Attendees of the meeting:
Kevin Stannard, Deputy Surveyor, Forestry Commission;
David Slater, Friends of the Boar;
Terry Hale, Councillor, Forest of Dean District Council;
Diana Edwards, Councillor, Forest of Dean District Council;
Martin Quaile, Councillor, Forest of Dean District Council;
Alistair Chapman, Forest of Dean Council Environment Group.

Wild Boars – Our Hopes for 2012.

A poem by a member of the Friends of the Boar ......                                                                                 

Tiny Forest Boar

Roaming where they like

Looking for their Mum

And finding her nearby     

They rotivate the soil

And carry seeds around

They root the Forest’s treasures

And eat them to their fill

But lately they are threatened

By those who do not care

And shoot them for their meat

Their numbers going down

They do have human friends

Who wish them saved from harm

To make the Forest safe for them

And make them feel at home.

In numbers Boar are few

But some have made these more

And think they are like tigers

When they are sweet and shy

They do no harm to anyone

They do not go for dogs

People must control their pets

Not feed or threaten them

Helping all our Boar and cubs

Makes our spirits bright

Forest Rangers stop the shooting

Make our dreams come true!

The Wild Boar make great mothers

To our hoglets cute

But why go to all the bother

If misguided people shoot?

So let’s reduce the numbers

Of wild boar to be shot

And have a rest from killing

To let them have some peace

Then tourists will come flocking

And aim their cameras straight

At little pretty hoglets

And mother boars as well

  

The Forest will be happy

The boar will spread the seeds

They will help to great extent

The flowers, the birds and bees

The Rangers in the Forest

Can then do other jobs

Like planting trees and tending flowers

Instead of shooting boar.

JM

I'm Scared to walk in the Forest anymore - I'm a prisoner in my own home!

Look out for the following article in The Review (Forest of Dean local newspaper) this week.  A response to all the many letters to the press over recent months from those who love the Forest but seem to be scared of the boar.  Many letters came from people claiming to have lived here for many years.  You'll get the idea even if you never saw the letters in question.  We wondered if some of the letters are a joke, so we thought would should agree... in kind....

Times are getting harder and with austerity measures on the way I had decided to forage for free food in our verdant and fantastically biodiverse Forest that we all love.  Herbs have always been a passion to me, and it is about time we all stopped calling them weeds (although some can be smoked) for they may save us all in the future. 

My first outing was for nettles to make some lovely hot soup, but was soon ruined by a ladybird that came whirring down onto my hand from nowhere. Startled enough, this voracious commy-red killer of aphids began to walk up towards my eyes and I had to start running in the hope the breeze I created would blow off the unwelcome pest.  But in my agitated state, adrenaline soon took over every muscle fibre and sinew in my body and I banged my head on a tree. I had to spend the night in the Dilke (I think). 

Hungry, I excused myself the following morn from the bed of the strangely delectable Sister and went bravely forth once again into the jungle.  It wasn’t long before I heard the scary sounds of tweeting swallows, swooping with what seemed like malicious play directed just at me.  I got the hump for sure, for they were very fast fliers and could only worry at the prospect of a child being hurt if one were to fly in the child’s eyes.  I pulled myself together and with the warrior skills gained only from watching video games, I got past them when finally I spotted some juicy looking nettles. 

Can you imagine my disgust when I saw that they were surrounded by bracken!  I had to quickly suck back my drools, for those who may not know these are seriously carcinogenic plants, second only to Taxus baccata (or Yew to none Foresters), and some spores may have fallen onto the nettles, and even swirling about me poisoning my air and by now exposed spit (I was never good at sucking back spit strings, as my younger sister can verify). 

Disgusted, I widened my search and saw a flutter of tasty looking nettles by an erect stand of towering conifers.  But as I approached them I heard a loud and menacing bark from the dark recesses of what turned out to be Tolkeinesque wildwood, with its towering and vaulted trees that reminded me of a past I wanted to seriously forget – as a child I was forced into church by Arkela and I am now mentally scarred.  But instead of having to sing hymns, I was frozen solid at the thought of a huge fallow deer bellowing his trumpet at me, as if Armegeddon’s apocalyptic horses were upon me, all tooled up with huge antlers and ready to charge into battle.  I somehow managed to unfreeze myself and returned home intact but in need of my expensive medication – at a spiralling yearly cost of £40-50,000. 

I have written to the Forestry Commission without response.  It seems to me that if we don’t round up all the animals into enclosures, and fell all the trees and burn the bracken, nobody will want to walk in the Forest for much longer as it’s becoming too dangerous for those with a keen wanderlust to explore the heritage we have on our doorstep, especially dog-owners.



Sometime in the future...."Don't touch! You may get a splinter." This forest is too dangerous for our children.



I’ve also written to the Council and Highways suggesting that once all the trees are gone they could pave the Forest over and thereby creating jobs, especially quarrying.  Paved roadsides would stop the boar from digging them up, and the burning of the trees may literally generate green energy to combat global warming.  This would ultimately make finding my nettles and other delicious wayside weed, umm herbs, much easier. 

It would be like the old pre-Napoleon treeless days of smog-ridden valleys and iron mines.  I’m not an extremist and would be happy for a bit of bare earth to be left exposed and routinely rotivated for the nettles and other herbage to grow in (yes, I know turned-over bare earth offends a few), and I would even be happy that no signs be erected to warn me about the dirt or the danger of being stung by a nettle.  We Foresters know all too well about the dangers here and tourists would just have to accept the risks or go back to their towns.

In my care of these patches I would even graciously donate a few ultra-violet lamps to illuminate those patches of weed so that more people may enjoy the sight of them, especially at night.  Information boards may be erected in due course and a line of coloured posts directing you to the organic “sculpture” (a bit like the 33rd degree Freemason’s pyramid, but useful, attractive and longer lasting). 

In my utopian high of a better Forest for all, I pondered even more the advantages it would bring.  Counting the boar would be easy and we would no longer have to believe the high priests of Bank House anymore as we could all see the truth for ourselves, before we rounded them up into enclosures of course (I mean the boar, not the FC, although maybe the FC would feel safer in there too).  Indeed, the Forestry Commission’s job would be easier and affordable until all the logs to build cabins ran out. 

Maybe some people may not like what I suggest, but it is surely time to stop appeasing these bunny and tree huggers and let the Foresters have their Forest back as it was in the good old days of wayside herbs and Warren James, with all it’s pestilence and poverty to keep us on our toes.  Keep the dream.  Come on, it’s nearly Christmas when we all think Santa has something to do with Jesus, so nothing is impossible.   Don’t let the rantings of the few ruin it for all.  Get educated about our Forest and its rich herbage.  Long live the Forest and all that dwell in her.



"I didn't scare them off, it was you!"  "No it was you!"





DJS