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Wild boar

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donal 13 Oct 2014
Was camping at weekend in campsite at farm in invergarry with my dog about 4 in morning was awoken by a low growling noise my dog started growling back next thing there was alsorts of bark like noises i got out tent with torch to chase whatever it was was could not see it for ferns but it was going apeshite ,never ran away i ended up putting dog in car,it was there for about 45mns very loud and agressive ,i did not have clue what it was in morning found out it was wild boar glad i had fence between us anyone else had a run in with them.
 d_b 13 Oct 2014
In reply to donal:

The obvious solution to the boar problem is the reintroduction of wolves. A mere handful of packs should keep them down nicely.
Removed User 13 Oct 2014
In reply to donal:
Boar are not a problem until Ive seen one (sulk)
 d_b 13 Oct 2014
In reply to Removed User:

They are pretty boaring to look at.
 kingieman 13 Oct 2014
In reply to donal:

They're fun things. I once came across a couple of folk about six foot up a tree by the Kinlochhourn road shouting for help. It transpired they'd been 'chased' up there and refused to come down until totally reassured the wild boar were nowhere in the vicinity!

Sounds like you got off lightly ...
 proandras 13 Oct 2014
In reply to davidbeynon:
Wild boars can spread through the county fast because thier niche is empty and waiting them back 500 years long. Wolves will not help this situation, only you get an apex predator to worry too. Plus I think wolves will be happy with defensless herds instead of hunting boars.
 d_b 13 Oct 2014
In reply to proandras:

I know all that in theory, but in practice it will solve the problem with people being paranoid about boars. They will all worry about wolves instead!

How about bears?
 nutme 13 Oct 2014
Boars are yummy. Wild pork!
Moley 13 Oct 2014
In reply to donal:

If you had a decent dog and a knife (and a big pair of bollocks!) you would know what to do: youtube.com/watch?v=Wyc2YvfbWzA&



1
 zebidee 13 Oct 2014
In reply to davidbeynon:

> The obvious solution to the boar problem is the reintroduction of wolves. A mere handful of packs should keep them down nicely.

Interesting chain of thought w.r.t. Yosemite's reintroduction of Wolves: youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q&

I expect that the sheep situation might be different in the UK though.
In reply to Moley:
>> If you had a decent dog and a knife

You would also need a complete disregard for animal welfare and for current UK animal welfare legislation.
Post edited at 16:31
 Duncan Bourne 13 Oct 2014
In reply to donal:

My wife nearly stepped on a boar hopping between boulders in Font once. scared the bejesus out of us.
 proandras 13 Oct 2014
In reply to davidbeynon:

Paranoia, that is it. We live in a world which is virtually safe, at least in Europe. The risk of any intentional harm is very-very low, you have much chance to involved in a traffic accident than attacked by animals, highwaymans or terrorist. But we used to the traffic.

I am from Hungarian and and dispite that country is full of wild boars and I got used to them. I know they might be dangeorous but they have better things to do than insult people.

But, funny, I feel myself very uncomfortable if I have to cross an Alpine field with a beef herd
Clauso 13 Oct 2014
In reply to Duncan Bourne:

> My wife nearly stepped on a boar hopping between boulders in Font once. scared the bejesus out of us.

I wasn't aware that they're capable of dynos... Which circuit was the boar following?
 mattsccm 13 Oct 2014
In reply to Clauso:

The Forest of Dean is littered with the buggers. I see several on my daily ride round the woods. A nice family group of 20 last week. Flaming nuisance they are yet some people are opposing the cull . Not even wild actually as they are all released/escaped.
 Simon Caldwell 13 Oct 2014
In reply to mattsccm:

The FoD boars are mostly wild - they're descended from animals that were released/escaped, but that was a few years ago. In what way are they a nuisance? They'll attack dogs if threatened - but so will cows, and more dogs get killed by cars than boar. And they make a mess of grass verges - though less so than when a lorry drives over the verge, and in the long run the rooting helps plants spread.
Moley 13 Oct 2014
In reply to donal:

I've seen quite a few when fishing down Huntsham on the Wye (FofD). I don't think the ones rooting about in the asparagus beds opposite would be very popular with the farmer!
Here's a comment from an angler on another forum this week in same area:
"I decided to stay late Friday night but ended up packing up quickly at 7.30pm. I was fishing on the left hand bank opposite the greenhouses and just as it was almost dark, a large boar and family appeared by me after first crashing through the undergrowth. I've had no experience of these animals but given the size of the parent I was taking no chances. I scared them off but five minutes later the adult appeared behind me and it was clearly not happy with me and came towards me making quite a noise. Again I chased it but I'd had enough and made a very hasty exit. So, just to be aware if you are down there, there is a very large protective parent lurking in the undergrowth. I've seen reports of them attacking dogs and horses and I wouldn't take a chance with one."
I've never had a problem, but it made me think.
 Skol 13 Oct 2014
In reply to donal:
A few years back, in ? Satterthwaite on the west side of the Coniston Range, I fell asleep in some bracken after a heavy night in the pub. There I shared my lunch with two small wild boar. Surreal and very pleasant. Pigs they are not.
Removed User 13 Oct 2014
In reply to mattsccm:

Get them rooting around on my Families farm on Blakeney hill in FOD. never saw them in the 70's and 80's there but quite a few in the last ten or so years. The collie occasionally come back with blood on her face I assume from having a tussle with any that strays into the farmhouse area.
Clauso 13 Oct 2014
In reply to Removed User:

What are the thoughts of the panel re. the proposed reintroduction of wooly mammoth to the Highlands?
In reply to Clauso:

It would be an interesting prospect if Wooly Mammoth actually existed.
Monbiot's book does make good reading though - and the arguments for reintroductions of wolf, beaver and lynx are very strong!
 Mark Kemball 13 Oct 2014
In reply to zebidee:

> Interesting chain of thought w.r.t. Yosemite's reintroduction of Wolves:

That's Yellowstone, not Yosemite.
 zebidee 13 Oct 2014
In reply to Mark Kemball:

Apologies, posted my comment from memory of the video rather than re-watching it.
 Mark Kemball 13 Oct 2014
In reply to zebidee:

No problems, great to be reminded of that video.
Clauso 13 Oct 2014
In reply to Ron Rees Davies:

> It would be an interesting prospect if Wooly Mammoth actually existed.

They may not 'currently' exist, but surely you heard about the specimens that have been discovered in permafrost and Donald Trump's plans to clone and rewild them!?!

Given the potential wool yield; the Clearances are going to have nothing on this sinister new development. Mark my words!

 mattsccm 13 Oct 2014
In reply to Simon Caldwell:

Can't be wild, they started life generations back as farmed.
Feral at best. I like them and enjoy watching them every night but there are just too many. Bugger the dogs, they should be on lead but ultimately they, the piggies, are a released escaped species that technically are illegal as they are not controlled by their owners. Please note that I said nuisance. The sodding tourists are a nuisance in great gangs as well but sadly I can't cull some of them.
Many people rant on about the boar being dangerous. Cobblers, just pay attention to the surroundings, switch the headphones off, listen to the country side and they are great fun.
But there are still too many.
Now wolves would be fun. Lets start by keeping them in contained areas to see how the get on. Might I propose Centerparks.
 RyanOsborne 13 Oct 2014
In reply to mattsccm:

How do you determine that there are too many? Too many for the ecosystem, or too many because they annoy you in some way? How many would there naturally have been in the Forest of Dean compared to how many there are now?
 mockerkin 14 Oct 2014
In reply to donal:
My namesake killed the last wild boar on Wild Boar fell, Cumbria in twelve hundred and something. He is buried in Kirby Steven church. They opened his tomb some years ago and found him, his wife and two large boar tusks inside.
 Bruce Hooker 14 Oct 2014
In reply to donal:
There are a few around Fonatinebleau, all over Seine et Marne in fact but they are not dangerous and if you do see them it's usually from well off as they run away. They do dig lawns up though.

Now there a few in Sussex, there weren't when I was a kid but there are now but the locals have found a solution, they make them into sausages. The sausages are locally made and I'm not convinced they are really boar... could be something like "a pound of the special, Madam?"

I've never seen them running about in E Sussex anyway.
Post edited at 18:46
 Toerag 15 Oct 2014
In reply to donal:

Farmers in Germany hate them because they live in the forests where they are protected to an extent, yet they come out at night into the fields and trough the crops. Beavers are an interesting case - in the long term they probably help the ecosystem by damming rivers etc., but in the short term they decimate the woodlands that have grown up through many years of no beaver activity. They seem to like eating the bark off the bottom 3-4 feet of trees which then kills them.

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