ITV West - Wild Boar

Click the link below for my recent TV slot with ITV West on the Wild Boar culling issue.
As part of a group I am petitioning DEFRA for seasonal protection for this animal. The majority of "my" filming was cut from the final piece as the Forestry Commission took over to try and justify the reasons for culling 12 months of the year.
As this piece was very biased, I will be filming myself to elaborate and put right the many errors and misguided comments from Ian Harvey.
This is not going away and there will be more. I have never been more determined about anything in my life and I will fight this until the end.

Watch this space.

Click Here for Film

Rob

BBC Radio Glos Feature - Wild Boar

Wild Boar.

Below is a link to my radio interview with BBC Radio Gloucestershire, which went out earlier today.

Firstly, there are a few points I would like to make as there is always a lot of editing involved if you are not live and not everything comes over as said, or as it is meant to be perceived...

1. In my interview, I mentioned that the Forestry Commission has a hard job and that I respect them as they do a fantastic job managing our forest and our deer. I also said that I would support the same policy for wild boar management. This was not aired!
2. The road verges do not repair themselves overnight, nor do they repair themselves when the ground is frozen. The majority of road verges have been clean for quite some time, this means that there has been a decrease in boar activity.
3. Click this link to a "This is Gloucestershire" story from the 3rd January 2010, where a Forestry Ranger confirmed a wild boar cull. Something, which is now being denied. This is why we mentioned the "legal" Forestry cull. http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/gloucestershireheadlines/Wild-boar-culled/article-1667370-detail/article.html
4. My "ONLY" reason for helping to form "Friends of the Wild Boar" is to help this species get the protection in needs and deserves in the UK. I am not looking for recognition and I am certainly not looking for financial gain. The Llama Trekking is Mr Fraser's business and has nothing to do with me or "Friends of the Wild Boar" and it should not have been mentioned.

I have no interest in any business venture whatsoever where the wild boar, or captive animals are concerned and I will never highlight a wild boar location to the public, unless I am 100% sure that it has moved on from the area. This animal needs to be left alone!

I think about our wildlife 100%, not myself and not anyone else. This creature needs a voice and I am going to give it one.

Mr Guest said that our comments were just scaremongering. Well Mr Guest I can assure you that the only scaremongering going on is all the lies and false gossip, which is and has been doing the rounds since the boar arrived in the Dean. Perhaps a statement from you in the local press giving the public the "FACTS" would help. Or would you like me to do it?

The vast majority of people in the UK watch wildlife documentaries on the TV and comment on how people in foreign countries should work harder to learn to live with their wildlife, which are viewed as dangerous by most. Then along comes a wild boar in the UK and they are too scared to walk out of their front door! Practice what you preach!

I am not doing this to make friends or enemies, I am doing this to help a controversial creature survive.

1st part (skip to - 1h 15min 27sec) 2nd part (skip to - 2h 36min 04sec)http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0065c3g/Mark_Cummings_03_02_2010/

Rob

BBC Glos Radio Feature

If anyone is interested, I will be talking on BBC Radio Gloucestershire on Wednesday 3rd Feb from 8am.
It was recorded a few days ago and is dedicated to the wild boar in the Forest of Dean. The show will be available throughout the day by clicking the listen again link.

Click Here: BBC Radio Glos


Thanks

Rob

Forest of Dean Wild Boar

Wild boar were on the menu for me today, so I decided to go out and shoot a few. With my camera of course!
Before I ventured out I watched a programme on CH5 called Rogue Raiders. It was about the wild boar in Britain.
I won't go into detail, but the final conclusion was that we have more to fear from illegal poachers discharging firearms in our forest than we have from wild boar.

I didn't have to go far before I picked up on some tell tale signs that boar were or had been in the vicinity recently.
This looks messy, but given time it will settle back down and will actually help with the regeneration of the soil.
What happens when you dig your garden? You are turning the top soil. I am no gardener, but I do know that billions of gardeners worldwide don't do this to make the soil look pretty!
Think about it.



They have had a good root around this tree stump. Probably looking for acorns and worms etc.

How did I know the wild boar had been here recently? This is fresh, that's how.

This is a feeding station. Set up to monitor the wild boar. Property of DEFRA.

Didn't find one, not one. They were too elusive today! However, I did have another trip on the agenda!

Recently a wild boar piglet was rejected by her mum. Sad, but these things happen. Wild boar piglets are weaned at 3 months old and this girl is only a couple of weeks old, so she was very lucky to be found wandering around on her own.

Thankfully Alastair Fraser voluntarily offered to help by taking her in. Alastair already looks after a blind adult boar called Stevie Wonder at his farm near Alvington, so taking in a piglet was no bother to him.

Her name is Ella, she is very mischievous and very, very cute.

Having a sniff around.

I think she likes tomatoes!

Having a scratch.

Time for a nap!

Rob

Feeding Wild Boar is Wrong

There were a few photographs and a write up in this weeks Forest of Dean Review newspaper showing wild boar, which had roamed into a residential area and were being fed by some locals.
It is bad enough feeding them mince pies, but this is just enticing them to come back and if this happens, in the end there will only be one loser.
I am as passionate about the wild boar as I am any animal in our forest and I am concerned that actions like these will just jeopardise the advice given and work being done to protect them. It will add more fuel to the already smouldering fire on whether the boars have a right to an existence in out forest today.

A few facts and guidelines below. These are common sense and have been given to protect us as well as the boar.

1. Do not feed the boar
2. Do not attempt to touch them
3. If you hear or see them and you don't feel comfortable, walk in the opposite direction
4. Stick to the Forestry Commission footpaths
5. Keep your dog on a lead while in the forest

Here are the reasons why the above should be obeyed.

1. If you feed the boar, they will identify humans and more importantly residential areas as a food source. This will have a devastating impact, as the Forestry Commission will have no option but to shoot them, as they will be seen as nuisance boar, when all they really want is food.
2. Wild boar have self-sharpening tusks and it doesn't matter how friendly they look, one jerk of the head could result in "serious" injury. Then the boar will be labeled man-killers!
3. I have had more encounters with boar in the Dean than I can remember and not once have I been in any danger whatsoever.
4. If you are nervous about seeing them, stick to the forestry footpaths, the majority of my sightings have been deep in the forest.
5. The law states that all dog owners must be in control of their dog at all times (http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/enjoying/countrysidecode/keepdogs.aspx). If your dog worries a wild boar and gets injured, then this is down to the owner, not the dog and not the wild boar.

I understand that it must be tempting to feed a wild animal in hard conditions like we have had recently, but this animal is a large mammal, not a bird.

Rob