I shot a wild boar this morning...

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by Lou

You lucky soul to have those living around you. Not many left in most of Europe these days (thanks to folk who like crackling and guns )

Saw some horrendous Belgian/German woman on the Hairy Bikers who lived to shoot boar for fun - eugh. She had a lovely day once where they shot hundreds in a few hours.....

Glad to see this one lived to squeal another day - it does look like a young'un - there's a lesson chalked up!

I think your misinformed Lou, they are plague like in Surrey sussex and kent. I dont know about the rest of the country. My friend Pete shoots them for pest control as they desimate farmers fields.

I have some video footage of them but it ends with one getting shot. Twice? as the first .357 soft point shot to the head didnt kill it.

ATB

Mark Chase

[Pigpen]

Originally Posted by CotoChris

There is a lot of wildlife around that one doesn't see. I knew there were wild boars in the area but of the 20 years I've been here I've only seen two, yesterday and one last winter. In the vineyards the boars pick the berries of the bunch individually and spit out the skin, they can be so delicate yet they are incredibly strong and as I found out today very quick!

It's been a nice week for wildlife, I saw this massive 1.5 metre snake entering the chicken coup and grabing an egg. Hedgehogs have been eating my slugs (but tramping on the lettuce at the same time!), frog spawn in the ponds, newts are happy in the pool and the toads hoping around with the latest rains. as for the birds they are around, one entered my office by the door, looked around and flew out of the window.

I wish my cockerel would behave though, he keeps attacking me when i come to feed hima nd his hens. He's a moody git.

It's Springwatch all in one garden!!

[chrisch]

Originally Posted by Lou

You lucky soul to have those living around you. Not many left in most of Europe these days (thanks to folk who like crackling and guns )

Actually nowadays there are loads. Happily they are on the increase, not least 'cos folks like to eat and shoot them. They went through a bad patch a while back but now they are doing well. The main issue is loss of habitat as we urbanise what's left of our lovely woodland.

We have lots of piggies here. (and smoked sanglier and sausages...)

They are very nice animals both to look at and to eat, but dangerous if cornered.

Chris

[KeyLimePie]

I came across one of these in the wild once, up in the Pyrenees. It was a big mother f*ucker. It came out of the scrub just ahead of me on the path, turned around to look at me and then snorted. It had fecking massive tusks. That was an underpant changing moment, I can tell you. Seconds later about 5 baby boars came squealing across the path and then the mother (who knows - it was an ugly beast) stomped off after them. After I had calmed down, I realised what a privilege it was to see such creatures in the wild. I'm glad to hear they are thriving again.

[Buoyant Babe]

Originally Posted by KeyLimePie

I came across one of these in the wild once, up in the Pyrenees. It was a big mother f*ucker. It came out of the scrub just ahead of me on the path, turned around to look at me and then snorted. It had fecking massive tusks. That was an underpant changing moment, I can tell you. Seconds later about 5 baby boars came squealing across the path and then the mother (who knows - it was an ugly beast) stomped off after them. After I had calmed down, I realised what a privilege it was to see such creatures in the wild. I'm glad to hear they are thriving again.

Tsk, all this swearing KLP - who have you been hanging around that is such a bad influence?

Great pics Chris, thanks for sharing!

Helen xxx

[Lou]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

I think your misinformed Lou, they are plague like in Surrey sussex and kent. I dont know about the rest of the country. My friend Pete shoots them for pest control as they desimate farmers fields.

They aren't indigineous as I understand it, Mark - all the British populations (there are isolated spots all over the UK) are escapees from farms who have bred, or deliberate releases. Not quite the same as millenia old local populations. there is also a theory that some may be from "wild boar" farms who breed a hybrid with domestic piggies.

Give it a few hundred years and we can call them British

In the rest of Europe it is patchy. Once overrun forests have emptied or been cut down, whilst in some places they flourish again, but this can also be due to accidentla or deliberate reintroduction. People just like eating and shooting them!

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by Lou

People just like eating and shooting them!

Lets get something straight here. These look cute but they have massive teeth and will rip you to pieces given half a chance. They see to thrive in woodlands close to arable fields where people don't go but if you kid came face to face with one and was gored you wouldn't be so cuddly with them.

In Kent they are mainly considered a pest to crops like pees but if they get established they could soon become a threat to walkers and their kids.

Tigers are cute too and they eat people as well. Wild pigs are like tigers only meaner and less intelligent.

ATB

Mark Chase

[Lou]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

Lets get something straight here. These look cute but they have massive teeth and will rip you to pieces given half a chance. They see to thrive in woodlands close to arable fields where people don't go but if you kid came face to face with one and was gored you wouldn't be so cuddly with them.

In Kent they are mainly considered a pest to crops like pees but if they get established they could soon become a threat to walkers and their kids.

Tigers are cute too and they eat people as well. Wild pigs are like tigers only meaner and less intelligent.

ATB

Mark Chase

LOL! "would rip you to pieces give half a chance".

This isn't Hannibal Lector hour, Mark.

Yes, they are big. Yes they are fast. Yes they have big tusks for a) fighting and b) rooting up food. They are not inherently aggressive but are hugely protective of piglets. Where they come into contact with humans they are mostly nocturnal, or at least only come out in the early moening and late evening. They prefer to avoid contact with humans.

They will root up arable fields and woodlands as that is what nature intended them to do, and why they are actually an asset to biodiversity as they turn over compacted earth and make it easier for some plants to seed there.

They are actually far more intelligent than a tiger if they follow their domestic pig brothers. Pigs have been proven to have one of the highest IQs of the animal kingdom, scoring higher than the feline family - this is part of the reason why farrowing pens can be so cruel.

Children getting gored....well.....perhaps we should just kill off anything that may threaten our ability to wander unmolested? Ban anything harmful? Quick - close the sea!!!! In all seriousness, have you got any references to child deaths in Europe from rogue boar?

[chrisch]

Originally Posted by Lou

....
They are actually far more intelligent than a tiger if they follow their domestic pig brothers. Pigs have been proven to have one of the highest IQs of the animal kingdom, scoring higher than the feline family - this is part of the reason why farrowing pens can be so cruel.
.....

Oh yes. wild and domestic piggies are smart cookies (not sure why that affects farrowing crates, but there you go).

Pigs are the most intelligent of all domesticated animals. Far smarter than the idiotic dogs and cats people keep as pets.

And. What's even better. When you get bored with one you can eat it... (although to be fair you can eat cats and dogs too but they taste awful...)

Chris

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by Lou

LOL! "would rip you to pieces give half a chance".

This isn't Hannibal Lector hour, Mark.

Yes, they are big. Yes they are fast. Yes they have big tusks for a) fighting and b) rooting up food. They are not inherently aggressive but are hugely protective of piglets. Where they come into contact with humans they are mostly nocturnal, or at least only come out in the early morning and late evening. They prefer to avoid contact with humans.

They will root up arable fields and woodlands as that is what nature intended them to do, and why they are actually an asset to biodiversity as they turn over compacted earth and make it easier for some plants to seed there.

They are actually far more intelligent than a tiger if they follow their domestic pig brothers. Pigs have been pr oven to have one of the highest IQs of the animal kingdom, scoring higher than the feline family - this is part of the reason why farrowing pens can be so cruel.

Children getting gored....well.....perhaps we should just kill off anything that may threaten our ability to wander unmolested? Ban anything harmful? Quick - close the sea!!!! In all seriousness, have you got any references to child deaths in Europe from rogue boar?

OK then they read Proust while they rip you to pieces, but trust me they are scary.

Fortunately they are also very shy so no people pig interface as yet but if they continue to thrive as they are doing it may well become a problem in the future.

Its a bit like the Mink released in the 80s by the green piece environmentalists. My old and now sadly dead friend Jim lost several hundred chicken, many many carp and his pet dog to Mink.

Lovely cuddly things they are NOT.

Best thing that can happen to a mink is to become a coat, but try telling that to an environmentalist.

What reeeeeeelllylyy pisses me off is when i come out with a serious issue like the damage done by scallop dredgers I am lumped in with the idiots who think Mink are cute.

Sorry Lou, I have a massive soft spot for you and Caroline I rate you both as super cool on my personal cool wall. I know your hearts in the right place and I respect you enormously but this is a pet hate of my own when eco mentalists dont look at the big picture. Wild boor? Kent? big problem


ATB

Mark Chase