I am not even sure that population control is possible.
In the Forest of Dean, the Forestry Commission cull is not going very well. At least that was the last that I heard. They were complaining that they didn't have enough rangers and the Boar were still increasing in numbers faster than they could shoot them.
There is a lot of good Boar habitat with no control on place.
My theory on the previous extinction of Wild Boar is simply that it happened because we ate them. With no local supermarket to pop out to a wild pig was a rare prize. I can't see that happening today. Your average "Hubby" is not going to come in from work and then pop down to the local forest for the Sunday Roast.
Locally farmers and land owners do shoot them and there is quite a bit of local poaching but it is not really having much impact on numbers.
I don't think that they will run out of space in the near future and thus become territorially aggressive. They only exist in small pockets at the moment and have the whole of the UK to spread into.
What I do see is that they will extend their range and I think that this is going to happen very rapidly. If two Boar reproduce then you have got six Boar, maybe eight, where's the problem? When two hundred animals reproduce then two thousand is only a few years away.
It seems a bit crazy that in a country where everything is under control we may have to accept this and even modify our behaviour to some extent but I am not sure that this is a bad thing.
I can see three immediate problems.
The Boar will forage on farmland. They can do a great deal of damage in a single night and that is going to really upset some people.
Whilst I do not believe that the Boar pose a real threat to the Human population, people don't handle fear very well. How many Spiders have met an untimely end just before they pounced and sunk their fangs into us, or whatever it is that people think they are going to do. I have heard many stories of people being chased through the woods by aggressive Boar and yet I have never heard of anyone being caught. I suppose that it could be that people are just very good runners.
There is a real threat to our Dogs. It is part of our way of life to take the Dog out to chase Rabbits. That is the right of every Englishman and it is enshrined in our constitution,, I think. That might have to change if there are animals out there that are much bigger than a Dog.
I don't let my German Shepherd chase wild life. He is indiscriminate and would stress and attack animals that may be supporting young. I have trained him to hunt and kill tennis balls, he brings the yellow corpse back to me and we do it again and again. In the park, in the wood he has to be on the lead. Maybe we are going to have to rewrite our constitution.
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