Here comes trouble: the return of the wild boar to Britain

Walking through the forest, you become aware of another presence. For a while there’s nothing there but birdsong and the odd drone of a distant plane. But in the occasional silences it becomes evident that something – several things – have been here before you. Every few yards, the earth has been gouged up and pushed aside, the leaves freshly dishevelled. At the base of the beech trees are long, raking scratches where some creature has ripped over the topsoil, looking for something beneath. Bluebell roots lie scribbled against the earth where they’ve been pulled up and cut through, and around the base of the larger trees are deep, pale craters, as if the forest had recently been surprised by a shower of small meteorites. The animals responsible for all this re-arrangement have long gone. They’re nocturnal and nomadic, and their recent notoriety has made them shyer than usual. By day they retreat into the secret parts of the Forest of Dean and by night they move from place to place, rooting their way to subterranean treasure and – just as likely – an early grave. It isn’t easy being a wild boar in Britain these days. Having been deliberately… Read full this story

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