Forest of Dean Wild boar Population : Is the research data correct?

[Kalahari]

Boar have produced a huge increase of tourism into the dean also , the FE seem to ignore that when it suits them

The trouble with this is that the people reaping the benefit of the tourism are not the same ones that have to pay for the effects of these increased numbers. The situation is the same for crofters in the islands of Scotland who pay the price for the introduction of Sea Eagles and don't benefit from the increased tourism.

David.

 

[Sus scrofa]

Boar have produced a huge increase of tourism into the dean also , the FE seem to ignore that when it suits them

Please quantify, this comment. How do FE ignore it when it suits them? Their aim has always been sustainable population reduction.

 

[Sus scrofa]

I find it amazing that the FC along with various other conservation organisations are busting a gut to release Beaver, Lynx Sea Eagles etc back into the UK, and yet Wild Boar are considered to be eradicated where ever they are.
Going by some of the damage produced by some of the Beaver colonies, some landowners and farmers are not that happy about them. And yet they are welcomed. I find it a bit strange.

FE in the FOD have never stated that they wish to eradicate the feral boar population, just to reduce the population to sustainable numbers.

 

[Sharpie]

Sorry but the information is incorrect, mandatory testing is for ALL carcasses no matter who eats them , they must be tested before even being released into the chain irrelevant of who eats them , it clearly states that on the test paperwork

Of course that is true. For those entering the food chain.

As I said, I think, but no doubt you will correct me, that it is not an absolute requirement for those kept by the hunter, themselves, or another member of the Hunting Party, their family, or to be gifted, not sold, to friends for their personal consumption. Never to be sold . This is not "entering the food chain" There is no chain. It is straight from hunter to table.

Just as we may do the same with deer, small game, birds etc. without even being a Trained Hunter, qualified to prepare them, and examine them for disease. Even nowadays I'm not sure that all the Wild Game Meat Hygiene qualifications even touch upon tritch. testing of Boar, for example. The Lantra Level 2 qualification certainly appears not to, mentioning only deer. Lantra Awards - Level 2 Award in Wild Game Meat Hygiene

Hunters doing this are not Food Business Operators. We are exempt from this, thanks to various bits of legislation.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/868/pdfs/uksiem_20160868_en.pdf



Again, at the risk of repeating myself, https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/trichinellatesting.pdf



Finally, an explanation of the lifecycle of the nematode. Most likely route involves rats>pigs>humans, though other animals that we eat can have it too, But pigs are the most likely, since they'll eat anything. And rats, since they will also eat each other.

 

[Sharpie]

FE in the FOD have never stated that they wish to eradicate the feral boar population, just to reduce the population to sustainable numbers.

Yes. Some explanation: Feral Wild Boar in the Forest of Dean

 

[Sharpie]

Finally, an explanation of the lifecycle of the nematode. Most likely route involves rats>pigs>humans, though other animals that we eat can have it too, But pigs are the most likely, since they'll eat anything. And rats, since they will also eat each other.

Sorry, link seems to have vanished. Here:

CDC - Trichinellosis - Biology

 

[Lateral]

Well your source/rumour couldn’t be more wrong if they tried. Only FE Rangers shoot on FE ground in the FOD. No contractors, no leases-don’t let anyone tell you differently.

It was just something I was told, by a local keeper. I take it you have definitive knowledge, and I certainly wouldn't argue the point,

 

[timbrayford]

The Sea Eagle reintroduction to the Isle of Wight appears to have had no negative impacts on shooting & fishing activities, however what it has resulted in is every time that one dies of misadventure or natural causes the ignorant celebrity zookeeping gobshite gets up and bad mouths the shooting community along with his animal rightist chums.

 

[ChesterP]

The Sea Eagle reintroduction to the Isle of Wight appears to have had no negative impacts on shooting & fishing activities, however what it has resulted in is every time that one dies of misadventure or natural causes the ignorant celebrity zookeeping gobshite gets up and bad mouths the shooting community along with his animal rightist chums.

...this might be the same gobby celebrity who doesn't like it known that he was once prosecuted for stealing a kestrel chick and admitted to stealing eggs as a youngster, but that was ok because it "kick-started" his love of birds!

 

[Night òwl]

Of course that is true. For those entering the food chain.

As I said, I think, but no doubt you will correct me, that it is not an absolute requirement for those kept by the hunter, themselves, or another member of the Hunting Party, their family, or to be gifted, not sold, to friends for their personal consumption. Never to be sold . This is not "entering the food chain" There is no chain. It is straight from hunter to table.

Just as we may do the same with deer, small game, birds etc. without even being a Trained Hunter, qualified to prepare them, and examine them for disease. Even nowadays I'm not sure that all the Wild Game Meat Hygiene qualifications even touch upon tritch. testing of Boar, for example. The Lantra Level 2 qualification certainly appears not to, mentioning only deer. Lantra Awards - Level 2 Award in Wild Game Meat Hygiene

Hunters doing this are not Food Business Operators. We are exempt from this, thanks to various bits of legislation.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/868/pdfs/uksiem_20160868_en.pdf

View attachment 265214

Again, at the risk of repeating myself, https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/trichinellatesting.pdf

View attachment 265217

Finally, an explanation of the lifecycle of the nematode. Most likely route involves rats>pigs>humans, though other animals that we eat can have it too, But pigs are the most likely, since they'll eat anything. And rats, since they will also eat each other.

'Please note the meat is not to be consumed' .
Im not going to win with this and your superior knowledge on the subject even though its in black and white, you make your own assumptions and alter the wording to suit you that's fine

 

[Sharpie]

'Please note the meat is not to be consumed' .
Im not going to win with this even though its in black and white, you make your own assumptions and alter the wording to suit you that's fine

That's OK, still waiting on the long-overdue Wild Game Guide update for England/Wales to be issued. Which might, just might, clarify some matters.

Meanwhile, for the admittedly (not so) obscure case of those hunters shooting boar (or deer, or whatever), for themselves only, I still hold that no rules apply. Nor probably ever will. Certainly the EU is unlikely to change their legislation, and I don't suppose we will either, unless there is some pressing reason to do so.

Sorry if I confused your position. You obviously shoot a lot of them and put them into the food chain, correctly.

 

[VSS]

...this might be the same gobby celebrity who doesn't like it known that he was once prosecuted for stealing a kestrel chick and admitted to stealing eggs as a youngster, but that was ok because it "kick-started" his love of birds!

Was he prosecuted? I thought it was just something that he owned up to in later life.
Anyway, anyone over a certain age who had a country childhood will have done the same sort of things. I did, as will many more members of this site who are from rural families. It's how most of the great naturalists started out as well.
In fact, it's just about the only good point about Packham. Makes him a bit more human, knowing that he got his love of nature and wildlife in the same way as other country kids.

 

[ChesterP]

I guess so but people in glass houses have a predictable habit of being the first to throw stones. It's unsurprising that the man is thoroughly disliked by those of us who were brought up in the countryside and those who actually carry out a majority of the true conservation management for his uncompromising hatred (not too strong a term) of anything that challenges his personal moral ideologies. It's a form of tyrrany and all tyrrany must be strongly opposed or what often happens is it's enshrined into law.

 

[Basil H]

Field sports have been the trigger for many. Even Charles Darwin came to biology through his enthusiasm for shooting. His student days were pretty "wild" in many ways but we think of him as the solid old file with a foot long beard enshrined in his statue at the Natural History Museum.

 

[Keith Edmunds]

I find it amazing that the FC along with various other conservation organisations are busting a gut to release Beaver, Lynx Sea Eagles etc back into the UK, and yet Wild Boar are considered to be eradicated where ever they are.
Going by some of the damage produced by some of the Beaver colonies, some landowners and farmers are not that happy about them. And yet they are welcomed. I find it a bit strange.

Beaver are actually now being controlled in Scotland, but I totally agree with the sentiment.

 

[sikamalc]

Beaver are actually now being controlled in Scotland, but I totally agree with the sentiment.

There not in England.

 

[Hayduke]

There not in England.

They might well be
There is no doubt that the licensed 'trials' will release beaver, within a few years they breed beyond the carrying capacity of their enclosures and they are expert escapologists, enclosures rarely built robustly enough to hold them.
If rewilder lord Zac follows his chum Boris this fad may quietly go away.

 

[Keith Edmunds]

There not in England.

I'll say nothing on that. The problem with conservation bodies that have a big public profile is that they are often economic with the truth.

 

[Keith Edmunds]

In my humble opinion, the biggest threat to fieldsports and.....wildlife as we currently know it........isn't the antis....it is the current drive towards totally unnatural methods of bio/chem birth and hormone control.

It is a win-win for the fluffy conservationist and re-wilders. They can have their 'wildlife' but they can remove part of what makes them wild and free, that being the natural desire to reproduce. The end of fieldsports as the best argument we have is that of controlling populations and playing the part of the natural predator.....and the end of truly WILDlife and the end of Nature as we know it.

Trust me, this is just around the corner.

 

[.243 t3]

They do provide and publish accurate figures. It has always been stated that the aim is to reduce the population to 400 feral wild boar.
I think if the private shooters actually published their figures, they may scare themselves with the amount collectively culled in and around the FOD

But they will not do that as people will know how much they making by shooting them poor little piggies