Wild Boar - More Dangerous than Guns & Drugs?

Forest & Wye Valley Review - Wednesday 2nd October 

PLEASE READ - THIS IS IMPORTANT AND FACTUAL - NOT JUST ANOTHER BOAR STORY!

Tell me something PLEASE, is it just me or is wild boar rooting in the Forest of Dean more important than guns and drugs being seized in the county?
So why is it that the Review Newspaper seems to think it is?

Has the FoD gone mad, or maybe just the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Review with it's wildlife hating editor?

Yes, of course boar rooting is an issue for some and deserves a place in the media, but this newspaper (The Review), nor any of the other local publications for that matter actually takes the time to go into detail as to why this happens "at this time of year, every year."
Do they even know why the boar root at this time of the year?

And I wonder who chose the words - "Questions are being asked about the future of wild boar in the Dean."
The Editor again no doubt? So, Mr. *****, please don't forget that you are talking about a living creature, which has as much right to live as any other creature on this planet, including human beings. They are being killed as we speak so don't bloody say nothing is being done to control them either!!!

Someone, or rather a few are getting very rich off these animals and it doesn't need a mathematician to work out that there are hundreds of boar being killed legally and illegally every year, as I have detailed below.

Where is the money going?
Do this animal some justice and do some PROPER research and please answer this in your next article Mr. Editor.

Consider yourself lucky that no other mammal alive today has the capability to cull as we do, as you can be sure, we would be No1 on the list!

You will find below, some simple arithmetic, which will hopefully show that, like I said, hundreds of boar are being slaughtered right under our noses every year.
Why doesn't this make it into the media? Because like I said, someone is getting very rich off this and as well as upsetting these people with guns, it also means someone has to do some "real reporting."

The below is based on averages, with each sow giving birth once a year and successfully raising 4 young.

Year 1
100 boar present with 50% being female
50 females successfully raise 4 young per season (average)
Coupled with original 100, this gives us 300
20% mortality rate - Legal/illegal killing, RTA's & natural death
This leaves us with 240

Year 2
240 boar present with 50% being female
120 females successfully raise 4 young per season (average)
Coupled with original 240, this gives us 720
20% mortality rate - Legal/illegal killing, RTA's & natural death
This leaves us with 576

THIS IS WHERE IT STARTS TO GET INTERESTING

Year 3
576 boar present with 50% being female
288 females successfully raise 4 young per season (average)
Coupled with original 576, this gives us 1,728
20% mortality rate - Legal/illegal killing, RTA's & natural death
This leaves us with 1,382

Year 4
1,382 boar present with 50% being female
691 females successfully raise 4 young per season (average)
Coupled with original 1,382, this gives us 2,073
20% mortality rate - Legal/illegal killing, RTA's & natural death
This leaves us with 1,658

Year 5
1,658 boar present with 50% being female
829 females successfully raise 4 young per season (average)
Coupled with original 1,658, this gives us 4,975
20% mortality rate - Legal/illegal killing, RTA's & natural death
This leaves us with 3,980

I photographed my first wild boar late in 2004. That is nearly 10 years ago, not five as detailed above, so you can add at least another 2,500 to this number = 6,480 boar unaccounted for.

It was recently admitted by the Forestry Commission that we currently have, in the region of 535 boar in the Forest of Dean in 2013.
So how do they account for the FIVE THOUSAND, NINE HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE BOAR, which should be here?

To all the critics who say that wild boar can have multiple births per-year AND have in excess of 12 offspring per-birth, "YOU" can quadruple this number.
So, if you "THE SO CALLED BOAR EXPERTS" are right, where are the 23,780 boar?

I have no idea how much is paid on the black market for wild boar meat, but let's just say it is £2 per-pound and that each animal weighs an "average" of 150lbs.
£300 per animal multiplied by a modest 3,000 boar = £900,000. Yep, that is close to ONE MILLION POUNDS!

Now, this is aimed directly at the people who "ARE" getting rich off these animals. How about anonymously donating some money to the unfortunate people who lose their lawns, football pitches and see high vet bills?
Surely £300 from £900,000 is hardly going to break the bank is it?

To the Review - Please try and report the whole facts instead of just persecuting an animal, which didn't ask to be here in the first place by the way?
Cheers!
;-)

Rob