Editing Wild boar (section)

=== Status in Great Britain ===
[[File:Wild Boar at Culzie - geograph.org.uk - 1017910.jpg|thumb|Mixed sounder of wild boar and domestic pigs at Culzie, [[Scotland]]]]
By the 11th century, wild boars were apparently already becoming rare in Britain. A 1087 forestry law enacted by [[William the Conqueror]] punished through blinding the unlawful killing of a boar. [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] attempted to reintroduce the species into the [[New Forest]], but this population was exterminated in the 17th century during the [[English Civil War]]. Between their medieval extinction and the 1980s, when wild boar farming began, only a handful of captive wild boar, imported from the continent, were present in Britain. Occasional escapes of wild boar from wildlife parks have occurred as early as the 1970s, but since the early 1990s significant populations have re-established themselves after escapes from farms, the number of which has increased as the demand for meat from the species has grown. A 1998 [[Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom)|MAFF]] (now [[Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs|DEFRA]]) study on wild boar living wild in Britain confirmed the presence of two populations of wild boar living in Britain; one in [[Kent]]/[[East Sussex]] and another in [[Dorset]].<ref name="britishwildboar.org.uk" />

Another DEFRA report, in February 2008,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080504155956/http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2008/080219b.htm Government supports local communities to manage wild boar]. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. 19 February 2008</ref> confirmed the existence of these two sites as 'established breeding areas' and identified a third in [[Gloucestershire]]/[[Herefordshire]]; in the [[Forest of Dean]]/[[Ross on Wye]] area. A 'new breeding population' was also identified in [[Devon]]. There is another significant population in [[Dumfries]] and [[Galloway]]. Populations estimates were as follows:
* The largest population, in Kent/East Sussex, was then estimated at 200 animals in the core distribution area.
* The smallest, in west Dorset, was estimated to be fewer than 50 animals.
* Since winter 2005–2006 significant escapes/releases have also resulted in animals colonizing areas around the fringes of [[Dartmoor]], in [[Devon]]. These are considered as an additional single 'new breeding population' and currently estimated to be up to 100 animals.

Population estimates for the Forest of Dean are disputed as, at the time that the DEFRA population estimate was 100, a photo of a boar sounder in the forest near Staunton with over 33 animals visible was published and at about the same time over 30 boar were seen in a field near the original escape location of Weston under Penyard many kilometres or miles away. In early 2010 the Forestry Commission embarked on a cull,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/8439997.stm |title=Wild boar cull is given go ahead |date=2010 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=14 May 2011 |archive-date=28 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228224122/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/8439997.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> with the aim of reducing the boar population from an estimated 150 animals to 100. By August it was stated that efforts were being made to reduce the population from 200 to 90, but that only 25 had been killed.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-11034307 |publisher=BBC News |title=Forest of Dean rangers battle to meet boar cull target |date=20 August 2010 |access-date=13 November 2010 |archive-date=24 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100824035711/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-11034307 |url-status=live }}</ref> The failure to meet cull targets was confirmed in February 2011.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120530120926/http://www.theforester.co.uk/news.cfm?id=7400&searchword=wild Cull failing to control wild boar]. ''The Forester''. 25 February 2011.</ref>

Wild boars have crossed the [[River Wye]] into [[Monmouthshire]], Wales. Iolo Williams, the BBC Wales wildlife expert, attempted to film Welsh boar in late 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/nature/sites/species/mammals/wild_boar.shtml |title=BBC Wales – Nature – Wildlife – Wild boar |publisher=BBC |date=1970 |access-date=30 July 2013 |archive-date=23 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123031236/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/nature/sites/species/mammals/wild_boar.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> Many other sightings, across the UK, have also been reported.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishwildboar.org.uk/ |title=Wild Boar in Britain |publisher=Britishwildboar.org.uk |date=31 December 2010 |access-date=30 July 2013 |archive-date=14 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014130048/http://www.britishwildboar.org.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The effects of wild boar on the U.K.'s woodlands were discussed with Ralph Harmer of the [[Forestry Commission]] on the {{nowrap|BBC Radio}}'s ''[[Farming Today]]'' radio programme in 2011. The programme prompted activist writer [[George Monbiot]] to propose a thorough population study, followed by the introduction of permit-controlled [[culling]].<ref name="guardian blog zoophobic legacy">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/sep/16/zoophobic-wild-boar |title=How the UK's zoophobic legacy turned on wild boar |work=The Guardian |date=16 September 2011 |access-date=16 September 2011 |author=Monbiot, George |author-link=George Monbiot |quote=I was prompted to write this article by an item I heard on the BBC's Farming Today programme at the beginning of the week. It was an interview with Ralph Harmer, who works for the Forestry Commission, about whether or not the returning boars are damaging our woodlands. I was struck by what the item did not say. Not once did the programme mention that this is a native species. The boar was discussed as if it were an exotic invasive animal, such as the mink or the grey squirrel. […] Then, once we've found out how many boars, […] should be culled to allow a gentle expansion but not an explosion, permits to shoot them should be sold, and the money used to compensate farmers whose crops the boar have damaged. Other hunting should be banned. This is how they do it in France. |location=London |archive-date=1 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001011420/http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/sep/16/zoophobic-wild-boar |url-status=live }}</ref>

In Scotland, wild boar are professionally referred to as 'feral pigs' as the genetics of the established feral populations may come from a mix of both wild boar and domestic pigs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nature.scot/doc/naturescot-research-report-876-preliminary-assessment-completed-2015-feasibility-maintaining#:~:text=estimates%20suggest%2050%2D100%20animals,and%20private%20estates%20in%20Scotland. |title=Preliminary assessment completed in 2015 of the feasibility of maintaining, limiting or eradicating feral pigs in Scotland |date=2022 |last1=Massei |first1=G. |last2=Ward |first2=A. |series=NatureScot Research Report 876}}</ref> They are now known to be present in [[Dumfries and Galloway]] and a number of sites in the [[Scottish Highlands|Highlands]], mainly centred around the [[Loch Ness]] area.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.scotlandbigpicture.com/rewilding-stories/rooting-for-rooters |title=Rooting for Rooters |website=Scotland The Big Picture |first=Gordon |last=Eaglesham |access-date=14 August 2024}}</ref> They can be killed there legally without a license and are culled by land managers as wild populations appear occasionally.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bonar |first=Megan |date=18 November 2022 |title=Wild boar cull was legal |url=https://www.argyllbute24.co.uk/wild-boar-cull/ |work=Argyll Bute 24 |location=[[Dunoon]] |access-date=21 November 2022 |archive-date=21 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121021019/https://www.argyllbute24.co.uk/wild-boar-cull/ |url-status=live }}</ref> {{As of|2024}}, an agency that advises the Scottish government estimates that Scotland is home to a few thousand wild boars. Locals around Loch Ness that were interviewed by ''[[The New York Times]]'' believed that the boars were becoming an increasingly worse problem, and farmers noted that they had killed and eaten several lambs.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Castle |first=Stephen |date=2024-08-24 |title=The Loch Ness Monster Has Company in the Neighborhood: Wild Boars |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/24/world/europe/scotland-boars.html |access-date=2024-08-31 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |url-access=subscription}}</ref>