A Non-Native Species?

Transcription

1 A Non-Native Species? Issues with the management of the re-emerging wild boar population in the Forest of Dean Dr John Dutton and Hayley Clayton University of Worcester

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3 Overview Native or non-native? erudite musings... A brief history Re-emergence in Britain Current issues in the Forest of Dean Public perception Current management Management in the long-term

4 Native or Non-Native? erudite musings

5 Native Native, or indigenous, species are those that are present as a result of only natural processes, i.e. with no human influence In the UK, especially for fauna, are considered to be those species present following the ice-age But, if once native, extirpated and then reemerge.??

6 Perhaps only a philosophical debate effectively they are now present as freeliving populations and require management... DEFRA feral wild boar Legislatively = non-native Wildlife and Countryside Act (Variation to Schedule 9) (England and Wales) Order 2010

7 A Brief History of wild boar in Britain

8 Post-glacial Mesolithic period Yalden (1999) estimated that there could have been 1 million boar in Britain in the Mesolothic period Neolithic period Anglo-Saxon period Ardwinna Celtic goddess of the forest and hunting

9 Norman period onwards Introduced Forests hunting preserves especially for Royalty species protected Rackham (1980, 1990) FoD mentioned as a Forest, along with 24 other sites in Domesday Book (approx 143 Forests in total) Also Parkland private land enclosed by ditch/bank and fence - enclosed semi-wild animals readily available meat

10 Approx 3,200 parks in England by AD 1300 Apparently boar difficult to keep in the parks but historic evidence exists support As a result did not go extinct in Britain until the end of the 16 th Century to

11 Extirpation of Wild Boar in Britain Rackham (1986) wild boar last seen in FoD (and Forest of Pickering) in 13 th Century Hart (2005) 1282 no boar to be found in FoD for the King s table Confusion as to actual extinction date due to occurrence in Parks as well as reintroduction attempts and wild boar farming

12 Re-Emergence of Boar in Britain

13 Source of Wild Boar Escapees from wild boar farms Illegal boar dumps Liberations Sightings of Wild Boar reported to the British Wild Boar website

14 Wild Boar in the Forest of Dean

15 Location of Releases In Sept-Oct1999, 15 wild boar escaped from a farm near Ross-on-Wye An additional release occurred in late 2004 of 60 animals near Staunton

16 Current FoD Boar Population DEFRA (2008) estimated the population to be in excess of 50 animals Current estimates range from 15 to 650 depending on to whom you speak!! However, in 2009 a (very) conservative estimate, based on the scientific literature of juvenile survival, litter sizes, etc., gave a population of 980 animals

17 Current Issues in the Forest of Dean

18 Damage One of the major, if not THE major issue Perhaps due to the visibility thereof? Damage to road verges, amenity land, lawns, cycle paths Aesthetics

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21 Health and Safety Concerns regarding the H&S of people within the forest and their pets

22 Boar-Vehicle Collisions 13 boar-vehicle collisions (2010) approx 50 deervehicle collisions? number of RTCs with no animal involvement

23 Poaching Poaching of deer within the FoD has been an issues for some time The re-emergence of the boar has potentially increased poaching activity Two issues linked to this: Use of illegal firearms in areas accessible to the public Number of boar poached cannot be taken into account during management decision making process

24 Disease Transmission The role of wild boar in disease transmission has been raised, especially in connection with: Swine Fever, Foot and Mouth, Bovine Tuberculosis (DEFRA, 2005, 2008; Fernandez et al, 2006; Naranjo et al, 2008) However, DEFRA (2008) conducted a risk assessment and concluded this was low risk

25 Public Opinion The re-emergence of wild boar in the Forest of Dean has resulted in highly polarised opinions Clayton (2010) analysed 71 newspaper articles (mainly local but some national): 43 were negative/sensationalistic 13 were positive Magnifying polarised view

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27 Public Perception

28 Concerned about presence of boar?

29 Total Eradication?

30 Concern in relation to Eradication

31 Control for Public Safety?

32 Current Management of wild boar in the Forest of Dean

33 Forestry Commission prepared a management plan in 2011 Incorporated all information to-date Runs to 2016

34 Public Information

35 Annual Cull Forestry Commission active annual cull boar (13 of which were as a result of vehicle/boar collisions) 2012/ boar (9 of which from vehicle/boar collisions) Cull target arrived at via discussion with local interest group and the Verderers

36 Private Culling Unknown number of Boar culled by farmers on private land not counted in cull targets Anecdotal data from winter of 2012/13: 40 on farm near English Bicknor 18 on farm near Littledean

37 Beechenhurst Lodge Honeypot site 125,000+ visitors yr -1 Car park, café, craft/ tourist information, bar-b-ques, climbing wall, link to family-cycle trail, sculpture trail, etc

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39 Management in the long term

40 Behaviour changes by humans! Responsibility for own biosecurity Research PhD: Accurate distribution map Data, albeit abundance indices, on boar numbers Habitat use at a landscape scale The actual ecological impact of disturbance Human dimension understanding

41 Questions