TENSIONS are building over where wild boar fit into the Forest of Dean.
The animals have been spotted regularly since 2008 after being illegally introduced into the area in unknown circumstances.
Arguments rage about the size of the population now but the Forestry Commission estimates it's at something like 800 and wants it to be half that.
It is the body responsible for managing the animals' prevalence but the size of its annual cull is determined in consultation with several other parties, including animal rights campaigners who are against a sizeable cull.
Many who live in the Forest are becoming increasingly fed up of the damage the animals do to maintained grassland like verges and village greens.
But there is no doubt the boar have become a key selling point for tourism, featuring on the front covers of visitor guides and attracting eager families keen to spot them.
This season's cull is set at 135. So far, 125 have been killed and a voluntary closed season is approaching soon.
Later this month, Forest of Dean District Council will hold a full debate on the issue, chaired by Norman Stephens (I, Newnham and Westbury).
He gets emails from all over the world demanding that no cull at all take place but said only those who live alongside the animal can truly realise the scale of the problem.
"I get animal rights people from America sending me emails saying 'please don't cull them' but it's just not as simple as that," he said.
"I'd like to stress the boar are not the council's responsibility, but we speak for the electorate and they are telling us there's a problem.
"They seem to be breeding incredibly fast and it's a general concern that they are spoiling the look of the Forest. I've heard people in the towns and villages saying they've seen them rooting through bins for food now too, so it's becoming a welfare issue. There isn't enough food for them.
"It's about striking a happy balance and at the moment the balance is way out. It needs a stronger cull."
The debate takes place in Coleford on February 27.
Kevin Stannard, deputy surveyor with the Forestry Commission in the Dean, said: "It is a difficult fact that the more boar we have in the population, the more boar need to be killed each year to halt the increase in population growth."
Separately, the Forest's three UKIP county councillors – Alan Preest, Richard Leppington and Colin Guyton – have asked Defra to fund a local referendum on whether the Forestry Commission should be given a mandate to up the cull target.KEVIN STANNARD, DEPUTY SURVEYOR FOR THE FOREST OF DEAN:
THERE are two very strong, opposing views about the feral wild boar population.
At one end of the spectrum there are many people who have very strong views over animal rights and animal welfare. Many of those hold the view it is wrong for man to kill any animal for their own benefit.
At the other end are many people who have very strong views that boar have no place in the Forest and should be eradicated.
As with many such debates, the majority view lies in the middle.
I believe the right course of action is to manage the population so threats to public and road safety are minimised and damage to amenity grasslands is reduced to what might be deemed acceptable levels.
This is the mandate given to the Forestry Commission by some of the local parish and town councils in recent weeks. This is an emotive subject, with fiercely held views on both sides. There is no right or wrong position, and it is for us to steer a sensible middle course.
The culling levels we have achieved since 2008 rose steadily in the first three years before running into sustained opposition from locally-based groups such as UK Wild Boar Association and the Friends of the Boar. Rightly or wrongly, as a result of discussions with those groups the cull levels have not exceeded 150 animals. During this period we have not kept pace with the growing population so a much bigger cull is now required to stop the population growth and bring numbers back down towards the target population of 400.
Boar are very prolific breeders. Young females will breed in their second year and we have litter sizes of eight to 10 piglets per breeding sow. That is a lot of boar born each year who themselves will breed the following year. If we had no boar, we would not need to cull any. If we had a population of 100 boar, we may only need to cull 100 or so each year to keep at 100.
With a target population of 400, we are likely to have year-on-year very high cull levels. We recognise this is a highly emotive subject, but the evidence of the last few years is that if we want to have boar in the Forest of Dean, then we must cull high numbers to prevent the population becoming out of control.
I also should remind people that the boar were illegally introduced by persons unknown. The boar are wild animals, and as such do not belong to anyone.
They are unpredictable and, while the vast majority of interactions between woodland users and boar are trouble-free, we do advise people treat the boar with caution and strongly recommend that dog walkers keep their dogs under close control. And please do not feed the boar.
This is not a problem of the Forestry Commission's making. We are content to take a lead on managing the population, and we will be stepping up our culling activity once the forthcoming voluntary closed season ends.UK WILD BOAR ASSOCIATION:
THE UK Wild Boar Association, previously the UK Wild Boar Trust, was asked to write a piece on its stance on the boar, but declined.
Last week, it sent out a statement saying it no longer felt able to campaign against "local mass mismanagement" of the boar because of increasing levels of what it called "persecution" of the species, but will still remain in existence.
"Coupled with illegal poaching and private land shoots, a mass cull of 400-plus boar will see the shooting escalate and this will ultimately see a higher risk of wounded boar roaming our forest in the event that they are not killed immediately," it said.
"An injured boar will be extremely dangerous and for this reason, we are not in a position to be able to commit to campaigning against the cull as we will not be made scapegoats when something goes horribly wrong. Sadly, the hysteria we are seeing is worse in the Forest of Dean than anywhere else in the UK."
