Boar in Inverness shire

All the Boar in Scotland now will be escapee's from captivity surely. Shoot on sight !

Kuwinda.. I can be sure of one thing.. "I have managed a lot more game than you" :D

Redlab it would be my pleasure any time fella !!

"Shoot on sight" ?

Now I find my feelings are mixed.

On the one hand, escaped, farmed boar have the potential to breed rapidly, ruin crop, spread pig related disease (not that this'll matter if Hall's of Broxburn closes. In that event there may be very little "pig" industry left in Scotland to infect) and you really wouldn't want to schmack into one in your G-Wiz. On the other hand I share my pal Kuwinda's hopes that they might proliferate in areas that can easily carry them (where's that?)... so long as I get a crack at shooting them driven stylee... can't see it happening here though... certainly wouldn't want it happening right Here either. I get enough problems with the damage bunnies do.

So, on balance, I would not shoot on sight, unless it was a decent tusker (or I could think of any other plausible excuse for putting one in my deep freeze)... :D.
 
As I understand it no, there is no evidence of beavers ever being native to Scotland - see here - http://beaverboycott.blogspot.com/2007/10/knapdale-proposed-beaver-reintroduction.html. A chap others out there may know?

I can't say whether these boar are cross or "pure" - a semantic distintinction anyway since they are both sus scrofa. All the pictures I have seen of free living boar in this country certainly look as pure as those I have seen with my own eyes in Poland.

Yea well done key word in the heading of that article - Reintroduction, which I would take to mean that they have been here before; no?


[FONT=&quot]http://www.thecourier.co.uk/Opinion...-9-beavers-have-long-history-in-scotland.html[/FONT]

As for the boar looking like boar, if you take a domestic pig and release it will soon return to its 'wild' state within a couple of months a quick 'Google' will confirm this if you want to check. but the fact that I was referring to was I believe that these animals have escaped from a population of boar 'crossed' with domestic breeds as you would need to hold a dangerous animal license to keep 'pure' boar in the UK. and I think that the authorities might have something to say if you 'lost ' some of these!!! anyway that aside if I see one on my land and I get a clear shot - I'm going to shoot it agree with this or not each to their own.

cheers[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

David
 
you would need to hold a dangerous animal license to keep 'pure' boar in the UK. and I think that the authorities might have something to say if you 'lost ' some of these!!!

David

Well, you might think it... but.

Go and do a Google on the Stirlingshire "wild" boar farmer's case. The "Authorities" did try and "have something to say about his escapees" but the whole case rather fell apart when it was established in court that there is no such thing in Scotland as wildboar.

In fact, here's the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4744538.stm

Good luck, shooting a negligent owner's free living livestock, btw. :D
 
you would need to hold a dangerous animal license to keep 'pure' boar in the UK. and I think that the authorities might have something to say if you 'lost ' some of these!!!

It's not such a rare occurrence as you might think David. Many, if not most, of the original escapees/releases that sparked the established boar populations in the UK have come from just such licensed sources of 'pure' wild boar.

http://www.britishwildboar.org.uk/index.htm?britain.htm

As per Tamus' link the 'legal' question of purity was raised and used to good effect by a switched-on defence lawyer in that court case. However, as even the continentals have debated for many years over what constitutes a 'pure' wild boar, it might be advisable to follow the BWB dictum; "if it looks like a wild boar, acts like a wild boar, and fills the ecologial niche of a wild boar, then it is a wild boar".

http://www.britishwildboar.org.uk/index.htm?purity1.htm
 
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It's not such a rare occurrence as you might think David. Many, if not most, of the original escapees/releases that sparked the established boar populations in the UK have come from just such licensed sources of 'pure' wild boar.

http://www.britishwildboar.org.uk/index.htm?britain.htm

As per Tamus' link the 'legal' question of purity was raised and used to good effect by a switched-on defence lawyer in that court case. However, as even the continentals have debated for many years over what constitutes a 'pure' wild boar, it might be advisable to follow the BWB dictum; "if it looks like a wild boar, acts like a wild boar, and fills the ecologial niche of a wild boar, then it is a wild boar".

http://www.britishwildboar.org.uk/index.htm?purity1.htm

I seem to remember that if the term of wild boar (listed dangerous animal) is swapped to iron age pig, you're ok:)
 
Native?? ... Really?

How do you make that out?

Leaving aside the "so called" semantics of "wildness" (actually we can't really do that as that point relates to issues of: lawful ownership/liability and trading/advertising standards as well as consequent firearms licensing matters) but for the purposes of this conversation I'm prepared disregard and accept that our wildboar are "wildboar"... but... native here??? How so?

Is that "native" in the same sense that monkey-puzzle trees were once native on our land? (I would have said "here" but "here" was once much nearer the equator) i.e. during the jurassic era when all that Whitby Jet was first laid down.

Certainly the free living, breeding populations of boar now present are no more "native" than Norway Spruce trees are, but I'd still be interested to see why you say what you do.

I think you'd first need to define "native" - I would take it to mean present in Scotland since the last (Wurm) glaciation. If you discount this distinction then yes - we could "re-introduce" polar bears, leopards and veloceraptors (driven veloceraptor - there's a thought :D).

But there is plenty of historical evidence of boar being present - have a look at all those present in heraldry for example. Indeed Ettrick Forest (not a million miles away from yourself) was apparently famous for its boar.
 
I think you'd first need to define "native" - I would take it to mean present in Scotland since the last (Wurm) glaciation. If you discount this distinction then yes - we could "re-introduce" polar bears, leopards and veloceraptors (driven veloceraptor - there's a thought :D).

But there is plenty of historical evidence of boar being present - have a look at all those present in heraldry for example. Indeed Ettrick Forest (not a million miles away from yourself) was apparently famous for its boar.

Heraldry??? ... That Flemish invention? (you'll still find quite a few boar in Flemingo land, or so I'm told):D

However, those that were once here are no more. So, whilst new "incomers" may take their place they're no more native than the local Polish plumbers.

Driven veloceraptor? ... where are we gonna get the beaters?
 
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