Wild boar roam Britain once more

WEST ANSTEY, England, Aug 6 (Reuters) West Anstey is a fairly ordinary rural village in the English county of Devon.

It has a pub, a few farms, a post office and a population of around 100. Humans, that is.

But in the undulating farmland and woods around the village there are as many as several hundred other residents -- wild boar who are adding every day to a nationwide population of up to 1,000.

Their presence on the edge of the Exmoor national park in southwest England, and across at least five other rural British counties, is starting to worry those in the know.

''They have no natural predators and if they are not managed we will be overrun by wild boar,'' says Martin Goulding, a boar expert who has been lobbying the government to act.

''We will certainly have wild boar coming into our towns and cities, rooting through dustbins within 10 or 15 years.'' This may be a relatively unexciting sight in France, Germany or Spain, but in Britain, where wild boar effectively became extinct around 300 years ago, the reality of these hairy beasts running through woods and farmland is sparking lively debate.

The source of West Anstey's feral boar population is the Woodland Wild Boar farm, where not long ago, farmer Alan Dedames had a herd of 120 living in his 35 acres.

But five attacks by animal rights activists, who cut down fences, vandalised the farm shop and let boars escape, have left him with just eight adult boars.

Critics say wild boar could have a damaging impact on many areas of British rural life. They can root up and damage agricultural land, spread disease to other livestock, and can be dangerous to the public if they are cornered and become angry.

Supporters argue it is a native species which should be allowed to develop again in a country that was once its natural home.

NOT READY Stephen Tapper, director of policy and public affairs at the Game Conservancy Trust, accepts that wild boar did once belong in this country, but fears contemporary Britain is not ready for their return.

''No one has done a proper assessment,'' he told Reuters. ''We don't know what the environmental impact is and we don't know whether it's possible to, or even how to manage the numbers.'' MORE REUTERS DKA VC0905