Wild boars to be given contraceptive injections

by Paul Conneally | September 12, 2008 at 12:34 pm

1151 views | 34 Recommendations | 11 comments

Wild boar live in various places across Britain and their numbers are rising. These boar are not native to the UK but are related to animals that escaped from captivity or were deliberatly released. They have no real predators and breed quickly often having litters of 15 piglets. When they are angry or hungry or both they are reported to be vicious and there are reports of them attacking pet dogs and even humans. This contraceptive injection method is thought to be more humane than shooting them but others feel that shooting them and eating them is preferable.

Landowners complain the feral animals damage crops, spread disease and even attack farm animals, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.

Scientists with the Government's Central Science Laboratories (CSL) have tested contraceptive injections on the Forest of Dean population.

This would be a "more humane" alternative to shooting the beasts - which private landowners are legally entitled to do.

The contraceptive injections could prevent the sows from having up to 15 piglets at a time.

All feral wild boar populations in England originated either from escapes or deliberate releases of farmed stock, Defra said.

A Defra spokeswoman said: "It is important that there are effective and humane methods available to resolve conflicts between wildlife and humans.

"Fertility control is one such method, and currently between six and 12 wild boar are being radio-tracked as part of a study to test the effectiveness of immuno-contraceptive vaccines on wild animals.

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Amy Judd

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 14:28 on September 13th, 2008

LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Uwe Paschen

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 19:42 on September 13th, 2008

LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff.

cyniakuk

at 00:47 on September 14th, 2008

Walking back from the beach at Krynica Morska, about 45 miles east of Gdansk, we were surprised by a family of boars who crossed the road in front of us and disappeared into a garden.

cyniakuk has contributed a photo to this story.

rumana husain

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 00:33 on September 14th, 2008

LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff. no litters no jitters. bore the boar.

Jouni Tarvainen

at 05:15 on September 14th, 2008

Interesting story. Hard to say which is more humane way to control wild boar population. Either way it's important to do something to control the population since wild boar isn't native to the UK and has no natural predators.

Jouni Tarvainen has contributed a photo to this story.

Jordan Yerman

at 07:54 on September 14th, 2008

They don't really respond to abstinence education...

ojQj

at 00:32 on September 15th, 2008

A wild boar in the Wildgehege in Kommern, Germany.

ojQj has contributed a photo to this story.

GirlWithBigEyes

at 02:24 on September 15th, 2008

As seen in London Zoo.

GirlWithBigEyes has contributed a photo to this story.

Debbie Forster

at 05:10 on September 15th, 2008

Photo of wild boar taken in the Florida USA Everglades, just outside Everglade City where this fellow was taking a drink from a puddle at the local gas station. They are not afraid of humans and frequently mingle amongst us. This is concerning, because they can attack and carry diseases.

Debbie Forster has contributed a photo to this story.