Caught Red Handed - Wild Boars 30/6/2017 Frid BBC1 11.45am -12.15pm (1 Viewer)

'Caught Red handed' on BBC1

A Wild Boar Farm was burgled in Wales, and about 40 boars escaped into the wild - and they are still in the wild - by accident!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07w5h5x

The Wildlife Police Officers have accepted the fact that there is now a wild group of Wild Boars in the Welsh countryside - like it or not!!!

The wildlife crime officers of the police have a liability to pursue the criminals in the case. I do not see that they have a liability to pursue the animals which remain the property of the farmer (indeed if he does not make efforts to recover them, he may be held responsible for any damage or injury they commit.) The boars, however, are native animals at large and are not themselves a crime.

So far as Wild Boar at large in Wales are concerned, it is pretty much inevitable that the Forest of Dean population will expand into the Marches eventually, with no criminal implication: and it is not the job of the police to control populations of native animals.

Unfortunately the police across the country have a tendency (a) to be as risk averse as the fools who are currently ruining the airshow business by disproportionate kneejerk reactions and (b) to seek power where they have no jurisdiction. A recent example picked up by the media was a cow seen grazing by the roadside in Northumberland, which was shot by a police marksman on the grounds that it wasn't in a field. Quite apart from the fact that it could have been herded into a field rather than dispatched, one really wonders how much the Northumberland police would panic faced with the New Forest, Dartmoor, Exmoor, various upland areas of England, Wales and Scotland, or indeed islands where cattle roam freely unfenced, crossing roads and interacting with the public frequently and peacefully. No doubt the armoury would be emptied and mass slaughter would ensue.

A certain respect is due to our guardians in blue but not blind faith in their rectitude, which is all too often based on what they think they should be in charge of and not what they actually are responsible for.

John

Interesting John,
when I recently reported a potentially dangerous dog (Japanese Akita) on the loose in my locale in the UK, the police said that it wasn't there job to round it up. I commented that I'd reproduce their comment if it mauled a child.


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andyadcock said:

Interesting John,
when I recently reported a potentially dangerous dog (Japanese Akita) on the loose in my locale in the UK, the police said that it wasn't there job to round it up. I commented that I'd reproduce their comment if it mauled a child.


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I think they are probably right. The real responsibility lies with the owner but it is likely that a local authority dog warden has the statutory duty.

The police wouldn't have an interest unless public safety is shown to be at risk, and until the dog bites someone there's no evidence. Incidentally I've only ever been bitten by one dog and it was a Chihuahua. IMHO small dogs are more dangerous than large ones.

John

Farnboro John said:

Incidentally I've only ever been bitten by one dog and it was a Chihuahua. IMHO small dogs are more dangerous than large ones.

John

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I was bitten for the only ever time by a Jack Russel, little ******



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andyadcock said:

I was bitten for the only ever time by a Jack Russel, little ******



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Quite! :t:

John

Farnboro John said:

The wildlife crime officers of the police have a liability to pursue the criminals in the case. I do not see that they have a liability to pursue the animals which remain the property of the farmer (indeed if he does not make efforts to recover them, he may be held responsible for any damage or injury they commit.) The boars, however, are native animals at large and are not themselves a crime.

So far as Wild Boar at large in Wales are concerned, it is pretty much inevitable that the Forest of Dean population will expand into the Marches eventually, with no criminal implication: and it is not the job of the police to control populations of native animals.

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The farmer perhaps knows that trying to catch a wild boar would cost more than its monetary value.

At this point it is probably not possible to tell apart freshly escaped from wild boars. At least from the point of law.

Good that the wild boars are once again living in the wild in Britain, although it was done by the most circular and nonsense way possible. I hope somebody writes down the recent history of the species, gathers all the alarmist and silly comments in the media what harm they were supposed to do, and uses it as a case to make restoration of native wildlife in Britain faster and easier.

jurek said:

The farmer perhaps knows that trying to catch a wild boar would cost more than its monetary value.

At this point it is probably not possible to tell apart freshly escaped from wild boars. At least from the point of law.

Good that the wild boars are once again living in the wild in Britain, although it was done by the most circular and nonsense way possible. I hope somebody writes down the recent history of the species, gathers all the alarmist and silly comments in the media what harm they were supposed to do, and uses it as a case to make restoration of native wildlife in Britain faster and easier.

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Farmed boars should be tagged and thus easily identifiable (apart from being in an area of the country that currently doesn't have a wild population!) and it would only take one traffic accident for which the farmer's inaction could be held responsible to render the value of the boar quite irrelevant to the desirability of recovering it....

As for the rest, you underestimate the ability of the Establishment (and local NIMBYs) to ignore anything they don't want to hear! Common sense is sadly lacking.

John