Wild boar digs up graves in the Forest of Dean

A UKIP Councillor from the Forest of Dean has called for Forest of Dean District Council to arrange a meeting with DEFRA and other agencies after a wild boar broke into the graveyard at Parkend Church on Friday 16 September and dug up some of the graves.

Councillor Richard Leppington, who represents both the Blakeney and Bream Division on Gloucestershire County Council and the Bream Ward on the Forest of Dean District Council says:

UKIP warns the population of wild boar in the Forest of Dean has increased markedly in recent years, and its councillors in the area have been making repeated calls for the animals' population growth to be brought under control because of several incidents of damage to property in the District.

The Forestry Commission says the Government’s position is that free roaming wild boar are feral wild animals and as such do not belong to anyone, and that responsibility for managing wild boar rests with the relevant land owner / land manager.

Feral wild boar have the status of a wild animal, such as wild deer, and foxes.