Villagers told to lock up their bins amid plague of wild boar
VILLAGERS have been ordered only to put out their bins on the morning of collection because they are being ransacked by wild boar.
The animals are venturing out of the Forest of Dean and on to residential streets on bin day after learning how to tip them over.
More than 1,000 wild pigs roam free in the Gloucestershire forest, but they used to hide in the thick woodland.
Villagers have now reported that wild boar have been spotted wandering through urban areas at dusk in the search for food.
The usually shy creatures have apparently “become educated” and learnt how to smash through fences to reach bins and tip them over so they can rummage inside.
Councillors have issued advice asking locals not to put out their bins the night before refuse collection day and use lockable containers.
Max Coborn, the mayor of Cinderford, said: “They are not daft these boar. They have become educated to the ways of the forest. All they need to do is tip the bin up once and find food and that’s it.”
A housing association recently had to extend a fence in Yorkley because the boar kept breaking into the communal bin areas.
A Forest of Dean district council spokesman said: “We are aware of incidents of the boars going in to some villages and knocking over refuse bins.
“Our advice to residents to reduce the risk of this is to use the weekly food waste recycling service as the council-issue caddies are lockable, and also to avoid putting refuse bins and food waste caddies out the night before as this is when the boar are most active.”
Wild boar became extinct in Britain more than 300 years ago, but reappeared in the Forest of Dean in 2004 when they were illegally reintroduced from farms.
The forest is now the largest breeding ground in the country, though groups are springing up in Kent, Devon and Dorset.