Wild Boar Family To Be Taken Out!

If you receive the FoD Review, then you would have probably read the article on the back page regarding the wild boar and dog incident?
What has shocked me is that Heather Lilley, a spokesperson for the Forestry Commission has openly commented that the unleashed dog responsible for disturbing the boar was injured by a sow protecting her young?
She then goes on to say that the boar would be taken out!
I take it she doesn't mean taken out of the forest and relocated? I think we all know that she means that the animal in question will be shot dead?!?
Just suppose that a Forestry Ranger did shoot this sow dead, what would happen to her young if they were not able to fend for themselves, would they be shot also? Lets face it, I don't think there are any boar shelters for homeless piglets around, is there?
What if the sow was shot dead and the piglets ran away! Is this not the ultimate in cruelty, to leave the offspring in the forest alone and unable to survive on their own? After all, wild boar piglets are not weaned until they are 12 weeks old!
I think this statement was not thought out and is very damaging for all concerned?

It doesn't matter, which side of the fence you sit on? This boar did nothing wrong and did nothing different than any other wild animal would have done. It is only that the boar are able to fend off dogs that the tables have turned.
How many times have dogs chased deer fawns through the forest, scaring them half to death, with the owners not giving a monkey's because they think their dog has more right in the forest because they are domesticated? Well sorry, but it doesn't!
It is unfortunate that the dog was injured, but going to the media just highlights the fact that there are dogs running around our forest, which are not being properly controlled by their owners?!?
Plus it also gives the anti wildlife scaremongers and armchair critics more fuel for their fire and believe me, there are plenty of them out there!

• Wild boar are mainly nocturnal.

The gentleman was walking his dog at 06.30am, it would have been quite dark at this time and he used his torch to find his dog.

• If the dog was on a lead.

It would not have been in the bushes, where it disturbed the sow and her young! I have no objection to walking a "safe" dog unleashed, but if it gets into a scrape, blame yourself, not the animal responsible for protecting its young as this is unfair and wrong!

• Unleashed dogs.

Up until now, dogs have been able to run riot around our forest unleashed, scaring and attacking our wildlife without fear of anything. Most of these incidents go unreported as nobody is going to report their own dog for attacking a wild animal are they? Now there is an animal, which can stick up for itself and is not afraid of dogs, some people think they have no place in our forest? (See below)

• The wild boar are native to Britain.

If people want to go down that route, the boar have more right to be here than the fallow deer have, as the fallow deer are not native! They were introduced by the Normans because they hunted the wild boar to extinction in the UK! They did try numerous reintroduction programmes, but guess what? They hunted them to extinction again and again before they could become re-established. So the wild boar does have a place in our forest, more so than you think.

What we must remember is that the forest is a wild place with wild animals. If you are worried about the boar and your dogs, keep them on a lead where you suspect there are boar and walk in the daytime when you can see your dog at all times. The owner of the injured dog states that this was not his first encounter and that the boar have been seen frequently in the area where his dog disturbed the boar.

I value all views, so all negative and positive comments appreciated, as always.