TO the person who wrote the letter in the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Review titled "Wild Boar" and chose to withhold his/her name, please see below as I have corrected your many inaccuracies, while reading your letter.

Please do not ask for the death of a living creature, when it is evident that you actually know very little about them.

The Forest is a wild area, not a zoo or a wildlife park like Longleat, as you assume it should be. If these animals are fenced into one area, how will they survive? They will need to be given food on a regular basis, or starve to death.

They will also be penned into a confined area, which would eventually turn into a lucrative opportunity for poachers, with bullets flying around our forest even more than they are already.

Pro-boar letters outnumber anti-boar numbers 5 to 1. Should this not tell you that thankfully we do have a majority that are willing to give this native species a second chance and tolerate/accept them?

The boar are being managed "now" by the Forestry Commission, but from your tone, you want to either see them wiped out completely, or reduced to a level, which could be unsustainable.

If this happens, they will be prone to disease as inbreeding will cause a dirty gene pool. This animal needs to be kept at a self-sustainable number like all of our wildlife.

The wild boar were not "introduced" to Britain prior to the 10th century, they are and always will be a "true" native species and probably roamed Britain before man.

The boar were not properly controlled during the 12th and 13th centuries as you stated. If they were, they would not have been hunted to extinction by man for their meat during the latter part of the 13th century.

You refer to the Domesday Book and how the human population has increased dramatically since this time. Do you know how many wildlife species have been exterminated to extinction by man during this time? Ask yourself what species is the most destructive on this planet? Seventy five million-plus people in the UK you say? I rest my case!

Do not compare the UK to countries such as Canada, Texas, Russia or even France as these countries are vast in comparison to Britain and managing the boar in these countries means travelling thousands of square miles, not 42 square miles, which is the Forest of Dean. This should be a relatively easy calculation to work out.

You say the boar were reinstated during the 1990s. Boar have been living in the Chase Woods for quite a few years, but it was actually in 2004 when they were first released near the village of Staunton.

You say "We are a small and highly populated country. Does this mean that due to this, certain wildlife has to go because there isn't enough room for them? If this is correct, then what next, deer, badger (already tried), adders, foxes, birds of prey?

The boar are not decimating the verges as they only feed in these areas during the colder months.

In the warmer months the verges are green and you would be hard pushed to find any rooting at all. In fact, this rooting actually helps the earth as it regenerates the soil.

Let me ask you one question. It is OK to look at dirt in your garden, or in a ploughed field, but why is it not acceptable in the forest?

Certain gardens, which back onto the forest have seen activity and I can understand the issues if this causes expense.

However, personally I would relish this as I understand and respect this animal from years of research and spending time among them as family units.

You say "During the breeding and rearing season they are dominating the Forest and are willing to attack."

Sorry, but this line is priceless. To date and this goes for the whole of the UK, where boar have been present in areas like Kent for more than a decade, there has not been one single attack on a human.

This is nothing more than scaremongering from another perspective, to try and rally support for a mass slaughter.

The wild boar are not naturally aggressive, but they will defend their young or themselves if they feel they are being threatened by a dog.

Before our native boar were hunted to extinction by man, their natural predator was the wolf. I am pretty sure, and I think you will just have to stand corrected, but the tiger, is not a native species to the UK. So, again, please do not compare this country to others like Africa and India.

You also mentioned that alien crayfish, Japanese knotweed and mink are not tolerated in this country and you use the quote "thuggish behaviour" from these species.

To enlighten you once again, the wild boar is a native species and they only carry the feral tag for one reason and that is because they were an accidental/illegal release.

If this was a planned release, these very same animals would be classed as a true native species and given the protection they deserve.

Please wake up to the fact that wild boar are a native species and the boar we have in the UK today show and display all of the characteristics of our European native boar.

Finally, there is no pandering going on here in the Forest of Dean to the boar or to pro-boar campaigners.

What you are witnessing is a dedicated group of people not only looking out for the wild boar, but also every other wildlife species we have in the Forest of Dean and also the ground they walk on.

These people are offering facts and the truth, nothing more.

The organisations you mention are the Forestry Commission, the council and Defra and these organisations know that persecution will not be tolerated in the Forest of Dean, ever.

– Rob Ward.