The Return of Wild Boars to Britain After 400 Years
By: Louise Mercer
Tags: Britain, Rewilding, UK, Nature Writing

Wild boars are roaming the forests of Britain after an absence of four hundred years. The notorious reputation of wild boars as dangerous wild beasts has caused concern among farmers and residents living near woodlands. Some parts of England have become “no-go” areas for walkers and dog owners.

The foraging behaviour of wild boars can cause extensive damage to trees, plants and wildlife in woodlands. Packs of wild boars in Europe are blamed for vandalising crops, destroying fences and spreading diseases such as African swine flu.

The feral wild boars roaming the forests of Britain are descendants of escapees or illegal releases from exotic meat farms during the 1990s. The wild boar population has soared to approximately 2600 animals.

Conservationists believe over a thousand wild boars occupy the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. Smaller colonies are in East Sussex, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Kent.

Two hundred wild boar were thought to be living in the woodlands of Dumfriesshire in south-west Scotland.

The records in the other counties in England and north-west Scotland show a widespread distribution of wild boars in Britain.

Residents walking in the forests of Monmouthshire, Wales recently reported wild boar families scurrying through the undergrowth.

Sows rear litters of between 6 and 10 piglets within a territory during the spring. Herds of females and their offspring, or sounders, are formed in the autumn.

Males are solitary outside the breeding season. They join herds of females in the autumn so they mate with one or more sows. Males leave the herd soon after and take no part in rearing their young.

Young boars stay with their mothers until they are 1 year old. Juvenile males wander over their woodland homes and occasionally form small groups in the winter.

The wild boars breeding in Wales probably travelled from the Forest of Dean as young sows sometimes leave the maternal herd.

Forests provide wild boars food, shelter and pools of water in which to wallow. Oak and beech trees are particularly favoured.

Wild boars rest in dens made of sticks and hay and feed between dusk and dawn. The foraging behaviour of wild boars can destroy large areas of the woodland floor.

Packs of wild boars strip the leaves, bark, twigs and young shoots of trees. They prevent the growth and renewal of vegetation by digging in the earth and eating the bulbs, roots and tubers of plants.

Birds and animals compete with feral boars for nuts, berries and seeds in the winter. The eggs of ground-nesting birds are eaten as well as amphibians, fish, small mammals, earthworms, invertebrates and carrion.

The survival rate of wild boars is high because they have few natural predators.

A combination of warm weather and an abundant supply of food during the winter led to an increase in the wild boar population across Britain and Europe over the last 30 years.

Farmers near woodlands in France are increasingly concerned about the mounting financial costs incurred by the damage caused by marauding packs of wild pigs on their land.

Italian farmers estimated a loss of €100 million, or £90 million, due to the destruction of their vines and crops by wild boars.

Wild boars are adaptable animals who have swapped their dwindling forest habitats for the wooded parks of towns and cities in Europe.

Urban dwelling boars walk along the streets at night picking up food and rummaging through rubbish bins. The conflicts with humans often involve brawling with residents, injuring tourists by unprovoked attacks and vandalising cars.

Authorities are worried about numerous road accidents involving wild boars in cities.

Berlin is home to 3,000 wild boars and known as the “wild boar capital” of the world. The police in Berlin recently stopped traffic to allow a group of twenty boars and their piglets to cross a busy road safely.

Wild boars are a health hazard as carriers for African swine flu, tuberculosis, hepatitis E and influenza A which can be transmitted to both animals and humans.

Hunters are hired by local government officials in Europe to cull wild boars to manage the explosion in their numbers

The figures released by the National Office for Hunting and Wildlife, or ONCFS, in France, stated hunters killed 700.000 wild boars between 2016 and 2017 compared to 150,000 between 1990 and 1991.

Wild boars are so numerous that other methods such as trapping, injecting contraceptives and tracking herds have been tried with limited success

The complaints about wild boars in Europe are surfacing in Britain.

Villagers near the Forest of Dean accused the photographers feeding wild boars of encouraging the animals to leave the wilderness of the forest and wander along the streets looking for food.

Farmers, walkers and dog owners fear attacks by wild boars will cause serious injuries and possibly death to humans, pets and livestock. Wild boars are listed in Britain under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act of 1976.

There were also reports of wild boars digging up graves in a cemetery, a fatality caused by a road accident in Wiltshire and a wild boar in Gloucester city centre.

The National Trust recently decided to cull feral boars in the Forest of Dean and on the Sourhead Estate near the border of Wiltshire and Somerset.

Animal Aid, Born Free and Peta are among the animal rights groups who have criticised the culls ordered by the National Trust.

Wild boars are rare animals in Britain. Their presence is causing conflict between the government, farmers and conservationists. The public interest in wild boars is a mixture of fascination and fear of wild boars as magnificent, although dangerous, woodland animals.

The fate of many wild boars in Britain is still precarious because of the ongoing conflicts with mankind.

References

BBC — Forest of Dean: ‘Tamed’ wild boars seek food in villages: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-51832875

Guardian — Boar wars: how wild hogs are trashing European cities by Bernhard Warner: https://www.theguardian.com/.../boar-wars-how-wild-hogs...

Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust — Wild boar Sus scrofa: https://www.gwct.org.uk/.../mammal-bags.../wild-boar/....

European Landowners — WILD BOAR (Sus scrofa) POPULATIONS IN EUROPE A scientific review of population trends and implications for management Dr. Jurgen Tack: https://www.europeanlandowners.org/.../122193_WILD_BOAR...

NPR — Wild Boars Are Causing Havoc In Germany, But Humans Are Making It Worse BY Rob Schmitz: https://www.npr.org/.../wild-boars-are-causing-havoc-in...

Woodland Trust — Wild Boar: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/.../mammals/wild-boar/....

Inews — Wild boars in Britain: a National Trust cull of the animals has provoked protests — but how much of a threat do they pose? By Dean Kirby: https://inews.co.uk/.../wild-boars-britain-national-trust...