The Boars are back !!

[Jock Scot]

I wish this introduction initiative of wild boar no ill and I have no doubts that they will do well. I have to say though, that these shy and secretive animals will almost certainly have the last laugh on us mere humans!With the vast tracts of commercial forestry that abound in Scotland plus the large areas of scrub and natural forest that exist, those very wild boar will have no problem whatsoever.Whether they will need to be controlled in the future is any one's guess, but I suspect the answer will be yes,particularly where there is arable land nearby.From my experience, once they have established themselves,they will be impossible to get rid of, even if we wanted to, and in many areas of Scotland that will not matter one bit. As a sporting asset they can only benefit the highlands and I have no major concerns about the well being of the environment, although the ground nesting birds could,almost certainly will actually,suffer. Time will tell!

[thanmuwa]

From my experience, once they have established themselves,they will be impossible to get rid of, even if we wanted to

I agree that once introduced (which I too am in favour of), they are likely to be tenacious. Which leads me to wonder how on earth our allegedly more primitive ancestors managed to destroy whole populations of indigenous species? Scotland used to have the European Elk, wolf, brown bear, wild boar, beaver and lynx, birds of prey like the sea eagle and red kite and so on. Most of these were made extinct before guns even existed. I realise that landscape change was the main driver but even so it is an impressive feat to make so much extinct when we with our better technology and an even greater paucity of natural habitat can't even control grey squirrels!

[Jock Scot]

I agree that once introduced (which I too am in favour of), they are likely to be tenacious. Which leads me to wonder how on earth our allegedly more primitive ancestors managed to destroy whole populations of indigenous species? Scotland used to have the European Elk, wolf, brown bear, wild boar, beaver and lynx, birds of prey like the sea eagle and red kite and so on. Most of these were made extinct before guns even existed. I realise that landscape change was the main driver but even so it is an impressive feat to make so much extinct when we with our better technology and an even greater paucity of natural habitat can't even control grey squirrels!

Do you know I was thinking the very same thing! The thoughts I came up with are these.The rural population of Scotland were far closer to nature than today therefore they were more effective food gatherers; the methods used by our ancestors would make the modern day animal welfare crowd cringe; time, in the past, was not so much of an issue so waiting for your prey to come into range was not an issue; it comes as a surprise to the modern sportsman in the UK (the use of bow and arrow is illegal to take game with in the UK)that the bow and arrow is surprisingly effective; the modern day man made forests are far more dense than forests of old;health and safety was not an issue; and last but not least, hunger and clothing to keep warm and dry does concentrate the mind.Any other ideas?

[Phil]

Do you know I was thinking the very same thing! The thoughts I came up with are these.The rural population of Scotland were far closer to nature than today therefore they were more effective food gatherers; the methods used by our ancestors would make the modern day animal welfare crowd cringe; time, in the past, was not so much of an issue so waiting for your prey to come into range was not an issue; it comes as a surprise to the modern sportsman in the UK (the use of bow and arrow is illegal to take game with in the UK)that the bow and arrow is surprisingly effective; the modern day man made forests are far more dense than forests of old;health and safety was not an issue; and last but not least, hunger does concentrate the mind.Any other ideas?

I do believe that "deer stalking" that took place at Balmoral in Prince Albert's time there consisted of rounding deer up into some sort of a corral then they would all take pot shots at the poor animals. How true this is I don't know but, as you say, people in the past had differing views on many things, animal welfare included. As to animals of old in the Highlands, the land was actually much more populous with people scratching a living in every glen before the clearances and what with deforestation habitat for large animals would have been minimal. As to birds of prey, Victorian gamekeepers would have been under pressure to remove as many of them as possible and would never have missed an opportunity. Their very livelihoods probably depended on the laird never catching sight of an eagle or whatever. A strong incentive in less enlightened times.

[Bugbear]

There was also a "miniature ice age" that I have wondered if played a role in some of these things. I don't recall the exact time frame, but Dark and Middle ages, I think. Just a thought. I'll have to see if there are any books on the subject at the library.

[Jock Scot]

I do believe that "deer stalking" that took place at Balmoral in Prince Albert's time there consisted of rounding deer up into some sort of a corral then they would all take pot shots at the poor animals. How true this is I don't know but, as you say, people in the past had differing views on many things, animal welfare included. As to animals of old in the Highlands, the land was actually much more populous with people scratching a living in every glen before the clearances and what with deforestation habitat for large animals would have been minimal. As to birds of prey, Victorian gamekeepers would have been under pressure to remove as many of them as possible and would never have missed an opportunity. Their very livelihoods probably depended on the laird never catching sight of an eagle or whatever. A strong incentive in less enlightened times.

The excesses of the Victorians and the generations that followed them ,up to probably WW2, are a salutary lesson of how not to treat the countryside and its wildlife. It was not all bad though, but lets not get embroiled in that discussion! However, we can not blame the Victorians for the loss of the,wild boar, European elk, brown bear, lynx, beaver or the wolf.They were all gone by the time Queen Victoria came to the throne. As I understand it they were mostly, if not all, gone before gun powder came into use by the common man. We know that deer were hunted with deer hounds,not really for sport, in the early times anyway, but out of necessity. So that leaves, bows and arrows, snares, traps of various sorts, nets, slings, spears, swords, knives and possibly poison to do the job, from a deliberate human act point of view anyway. I can only suppose that the extermination of these species must have taken at least a couple of thousand(?) years to achieve. I do wonder how common these animals were and I am leaning towards suspecting that they were not that common even in their heyday.