Living high on the hog

Escaped or released wild boar are leading hunters a merry dance as they spread in the UK. But they are here to stay, warns Tony Jackson

It was a startling encounter. There I was, sitting with my back to an oak, .243 to hand in the hope that a roebuck might venture out of thick cover at the base of a Dorset woodland slope. Without warning, a large black animal emerged from the dense cover below to trot uphill towards me.

It was a wild boar.

I knew that several animals had escaped from a farm in the area and there had been intermittent sightings for several months, but this was the first genuine wild boar I had seen in this country — and it was quite a shock to the system. A light breeze was blowing towards me and the animal, as it advanced, was not aware of my presence. However, a .243 with a relatively light bullet weight was hardly ideal. I stood up and the boar, a sow, spun round and galloped downhill at an astonishing pace.

Today, wild boar — a species native to this country until the 13th century, with subsequent unsuccessful reintroductions over several centuries — have now become firmly re-established as a free-living and breeding part of the British fauna. It is more than 30 years since the first reports of wild boar escaping from farms specialising in the animals set the farming and shooting worlds in a panic. Reports of a breeding colony in south-west Kent soon began to filter in following the great storm of 1987. A section of perimeter fencing on a wild boar farm at Tenterden had been blown down, allowing breeding stock to escape into the surrounding countryside. The animals swiftly took advantage of their good fortune.

Wild boar farming had expanded countrywide as the demand for the excellent lean meat escalated and, inevitably, reports of escaped animals from several farms in different counties soon began to circulate. Wild boar are the Houdinis of the confined animal world. They are immensely strong, with powerful shoulders and massive heads, well capable of sabotaging fencing and are surprisingly athletic jumpers.

There were reports of wild boar escaping from a farm near Bridport in Dorset, while in 2006 animal rights activists released 100 wild boar from a farm near Exmoor. Around 40 were recaptured but the remainder, including many pregnant sows, quickly colonised and were soon reported from nearby areas, including Dartmoor.

Breeding groups

It was not long before there were reports of individuals or small groups of wild boar being seen countrywide, including Scotland where three breeding populations were established in Dumfriesshire, Lochaber and central Perthshire. As the animals spread in Kent and East Sussex, a number of boar were shot and carcases sold to game dealers, with wild boar meat appearing in local restaurants. Some hunters, realising that there was money to be made, refused to kill any animals during the spring farrowing period in order to preserve stocks.

However, farmers were in general unwelcoming. Wild boar rooted up pasture land and caused considerable damage to maize crops, though there also appeared to be evidence that their grubbing activities in woodland might be beneficial to the flora. In Sweden the wild boar population has apparently increased species diversity through rooting and mixing soil nutrients.

mild, damp climate suits them, while we also have ample deciduous and coniferous woodland and scrubland to provide cover and opportunities for successful breeding. Today the largest population of wild boar now thrives in the Forest of Dean where there are well over

“Boar are strong, with powerful shoulders and massive heads, and are surprisingly athletic jumpers”

A wild boar sow with her piglets — a group known as a sounder — in the Forest of Dean