NickJ said:
They seem so tame, do we think this is because, as Simon King says they haven't been shot yet or because they are only recently escaped??
These boar originate from a deliberate release that took place in 2003 in the Highmeadow Woods near Staunton, outlying woods to the main forest. They are currently seperate from the Ross on Wye lot but it will not be long before they join up. They have also got well into the main forest and are also spreading down the Wye Valley on both sides.
I'd heard anecdotally that the FC had shot over 40 in this area last year but the FC deny culling them in this area apart from "the odd nuisance" that endangers the public so I reckon that these are only lightly culled, if at all, at the moment. That may change when the joint policy statement on what to do about them is published later this year.
It was interesting that even here the big bugger that turned up in the infra red camera lens on Thursday's programme was still very nervous and shot off almost immediately.