The boar war
After an escape of boar in the Highlands, is the rapid growth in their numbers throughout Scotland a threat or a welcome diversification of wildlife, asks Cal Flyn
‘Though wild boar can be an exciting sighting for those who live locally, they also cause a great deal of damage’
Some of Scotland’s most controversial new residents are some of its most rarely seen. But if you’re out and about in Lochaber or Dumfries and Galloway, you might just spot some tell-tale signs that indicate their presence.
Lurking in the Scottish undergrowth are several hundred wild boar: descendants of escapees from commercial farms, who now roam freely through the countryside – typically in multi-family groups known as ‘sounders’.
Jon Mercer, a naturalist based in Glen Loy, near Fort William, where he and his wife Angela offer wildlife spotting holidays, also sees plenty of evidence of the presence of boar locally. ‘All the years we’ve been here, we are yet to actually see them, but we’ve caught them on camera traps,’ he told me. ‘They’re very much nocturnal, and come out at night. But people further up the glen have seen them behind their houses.’
The boar we have in Scotland are ‘probably not purebred wild boar,’ Jon continues, but ‘an Iron Age pig type, which is a cross between a wild boar and deer hog. But they certainly revert to a wild type. Their piglets are the typical humbug stripy things – that’s what they call them: humbugs.’ This particular population, which Jon estimates to number around 200 and range over around 100 square miles between Invergarry and Loch Shiel, are thought to be linked to escapees from a pen at the Glendessary Estate around 15 years ago. ‘As the eagle flies, that’s no more than six or seven miles,’ says Jon. ‘But it’s a long way round by tracks and road. They crossed a range of hills to get into Glen Loy.’
Though wild boar can be a rare, exciting sighting for those who live locally, they also cause a great deal of damage. ‘They’re active at the moment,’ he says. ‘If you go up our glen, the sides of the road are completely trashed, like a rotovator has gone through.’ ( The Guardian once described boar as creating ‘a Somme-style ambience’.) The animals are rooting for vegetable matter like roots and tubers, beech mast and acorns, although – as omnivorous creatures that will eat almost anything – they also eat worms, grubs, carrion of all kinds, birds, and even small mammals.
In fact, it’s their partiality to young lambs that has earned much of the opprobrium that comes their way. Lea MacNally, a retired estate manager based in Glen Garry, near Invergarry, saw them one night as he drove home through the dusk along his single-track road. ‘A family were on the side of the road, one big boar screaming his head off,’ says Lea. ‘But I spooked them and they just disappeared.’
Lea keeps a small number of sheep on his land, and the boar have attacked and killed several of his ‘very young, two- to three-day-old’ lambs. ‘They just ate them to bits,’ he tells me. ‘I have a friend not far away who had 40kg lambs killed; all that was left was the skin.’
Many farmers and crofters in the area are very anxious about the prospect of boar numbers ballooning in the coming years, as they have in parts of England. A 1,200-strong population live in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, where the ground often looks like a ploughed field and the bins are often raided. There they are known to chase dog walkers, including one local man who nearly lost his finger to a large male boar. As fully grown boar can weigh far in excess of 20 stone (160kg), some locals are understandably nervous.
In this country, they are classed as dangerous animals, and on continental Europe and in Scandinavia, boar are commonly viewed as a pest and shot from hides on stilts in the woods. Indeed, boar – which are listed on the World Conservation Union’s most invasive species list – have become so invasive around the world that they are viewed as a huge problem in many urban areas.
In Barcelona, for instance, police logged 1,187 calls complaining of nuisance boar on the loose in 2016; while in Milan earlier this year a group of boar caused a fatal three-car pile-up. In Berlin, full-time stadtjager, or trained street hunters, kill thousands each year but the city still has a population of over 3,000 animals. In all there are 10 million boar in the EU, a number which rises each year.
Numbers are controlled in Scotland too; Lea tells me that one nearby farmer who has a persistent problem with the boar has shot ‘over a hundred in five years, and they keep coming in’. Lea, who is on the committee for the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association – which has been vocal in its support of larger culls – wants more guidance and assistance from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).
‘We know from European experience that wounded or cornered pigs, or sows with piglets, can pose a risk to humans and domestic animals,’ said Morag Milne, SNH Wildlife Policy Officer, after noting that they prefer the term ‘feral pig’ to the more commonly used ‘wild boar’, as the Scottish population shows a mix of boar and domestic stock. ‘Feral pigs are fast, can grow to considerable size and have tusks. Although they generally avoid human contact, we advise people to give feral pigs a wide berth if they do encounter them.’
The boar are considered to be ‘outwith their native range’, meaning that releasing them, or allowing them to escape from captivity, is an offence under Section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. This also means that they are not legally protected, and can be shot year-round. ‘Land managers are responsible for controlling any feral pigs on their own land,’ said Morag. ‘We encourage them to do so, humanely.’
‘It’s their partiality to young lambs that has earned much of the opprobrium that comes their way’
Some enterprising types have seen this as an opportunity, and now offer boar hunting on a commercial basis – including the Glendessary Estate, where evening boar shooting is available as part of their hind shooting package. There, the animals are shot from platforms near to regular feeding stations, with the use of motion detector cameras and thermal night vision equipment. (Even with technological support, the elusive and notoriously vigilant boar can prove very difficult to target.) The ‘Solway Stalker’ Colin Lockerbie also offers boar hunting on farmland near Dumfries.
But despite the anxiety voiced by some, SNH maintain that the problems posed by feral swine currently remain relatively minor. ‘To date, SNH has received very few complaints about feral pigs in Scotland. Most of the reports of damage we have received to date have been to pasture caused by the pigs’ rooting behaviour. Although there is evidence that some individuals will eat lambs, it is unclear whether they killed the lambs, or if the lambs were already dead.
‘The main concerns,’ the spokesperson continued, ‘are about the potential for damage to crops and livestock, vehicle collisions and transmission of diseases to livestock and people if the current populations are allowed to increase and spread.’
And they do have some fans. Those involved in the rewilding movement appreciate the boars’ ability to clear dense heather and bracken – they are the only animal that will eat bracken – and to aerate the ground in preparation for tree planting or natural regeneration. A small population was kept at Paul Lister’s Alladale Wilderness Reserve in Sutherland in partnership with researchers from Oxford University until they grew partial to the root systems of the fragile remnants of Caledonian pine forest.
So if you find yourself in churned up glens on the west coast, stay alert for our porcine neighbours. Listen carefully – grunts might indicate a family group close at hand, bickering over food. You might even be lucky enough to catch a rare glimpse.