The Boars are back !!

[Inchessi]

And, you know they're dangerous when the pitbulls that hunt them are wearing kevlar.

Is that a Pit, or is it a Dogo? The picture angle and kevlar makes it hard to tell. I have seen Packs of Dogo and a cur used for pig hunting.

[Deil the Yin]

Yeah... I dunno about Tennessee, but here in Georgia there is no season and no limit for hunting feral hogs- they're considered a virtual blight. I'm not sure they are the same thing as a wild BOAR, but certainly close enough.

IMHO, the reintroducing of wild boar is always a gamble. I don't think there is a place in the southern United States where anyone would speak fondly of boars. They might sort out the bracken issue, but they're just as relentless in destroying crops and mucking up any grassland worth planting on. And, you know they're dangerous when the pitbulls that hunt them are wearing kevlar.

[skauwt]

I think the idea is that the piggies will root out the bracken which is choking out any re-forestation. Of course the deer and sheep will then probably come along and much the saplings before they can grow into trees. Scotland for the last 150 years or so has been a playground for wealthy individuals to come and shoot deer, grouse, pheasants, partridge, virtually anything that moves, and the whole management of land has been directed towards producing these species for sport. A tragic side issue of this has been the ruthless decimation by poisoning and other means such as trapping and, of course, shooting of all sorts of natural predators, buzzards, eagles, hawks, kites, foxes, stoats, polecats even badgers to maximise the yield with the result that there is no longer any ecological balance. The elimination of wild boar allowed the proliferation of bracken, the elimination of wolves allowed the proliferation of deer and so on and the proliferation of sheep ensured that any new saplings were quickly munched to prevent any re-forestation.

phil i think you summed up the situation perfectly here, my hats off to you sir ,perhaps one day this country`s landlords will start thinking of the folk who live here more often... rather than the ones who come and visit

[Jock Scot]

phil i think you summed up the situation perfectly here, my hats off to you sir ,perhaps one day this country`s landlords will start thinking of the folk who live here more often... rather than the ones who come and visit

Whilst you both are generally right about the past,although I would argue that the employment of the rural population of Scotland would have been even more dire without the "big estates". It would be a great mistake to ignore, underestimate, or scorn the outside money, past and present, spent on sporting activities(love or hate them) that have and still do help many estates provide much needed income and employment for the local population.

[sydnie7]

Shy and gentle. . . hmmm. . . I think it was Rutherford's "New Forest" where I read a theory that wild boar were the truth behind England's dragons!

Rentroduced animals will roam, my mother and friends in south-eastern Wyoming saw a lynx that (they later learned) had evidently strayed from a reintro program in Canada.

[Bigkahuna]

No doubt they will get loose and breed, adding to the feral pig population. Whether this will be for good or ill remains to be seen. Here in our Southeast, we have had some feral hogs go over 1000lbs. They are Not friendly cute and fuzzy.

[GDub]

Wild animals will roam to find a suitable environment. They are smart that way--obviously. Makes perfect sense to me. Problem is, too many humans want them to comply to human reason-ing. That ain't ever going to happen. Good on the beasts! Let them roam...

As an aside, have you non-vegetarians ever had wild boar sausage? It's the best!

[cormacmacguardhe]

There is a very big problem with wild pigs here in Washington state, especially on the Olympic Peninsula. They are considered an invasive species, and can be hunted any time. There are also some who were introduced here from Russia, these are very agressive and dangerous to humans. I do hear that they taste very good though.

[dfmacliam]

I hope you do not have to deal with the wild boars, like we have experienced in Texas, This hog was taken near Conroe,a town named Cut and Shoot, which is not very far from Houston..

[Jock Scot]

Stone the crows!I hope we never get them THAT big!