Forest of Dean Cull

[8x57]

while that last comment is true, its also very easy to get rid of them if theres excessive poaching and mismanagement.

Very unlikely to happen if the main holding area is FC controlled ground as it is.

 

[tika.308]

Do you mean the FC are doing very nicely out of cropping them every year Mike ? So they don't want to shoot them out.
I have heard different figures from 4 figures to 500 a year they take out of the forest, if it's 500 that must be a nice bit of revenue for them.

 

[8x57]

Their policy is or so I was told was not to eradicate the boar from the forest but just to limit the numbers in the forest. The difficulty is that of establishing just how many there really are on their ground. Estimates based on various counts seem to have been wide of the mark previously leading to increased culls in the last couple of years. I suppose a freedom of information request might actually tell you what the income if any has been from the boar that have passed through their larder.

The hardest balancing act for the FC is probably not with actual boar numbers but with public opinion, as there seem to be some very strong opinions expressed from both the antis and the pro eradication groups. In effect they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

 

[ELMER FUDD]

Talking with one of the rangers last night and he was saying they have counted over 1000 piglets already and they have reached last years total so far on their culling

 

[tika.308]

Wow
There's certainly no shortage of them at the moment.