Wild Boar Sus Scrofa in Southern England : An investigation of an accidentally re-introduced species

Wild boar are a former British native species that became extinct in Britain several hundred years ago. Since the early 1990's, wild boar have become accidentally reintroduced into parts of their ancestral British habitat through the escape of farmed wild boar stock; the farmed stock were descendants of animals imported from continental Europe. This thesis was the first academic research to verify, and subsequently investigate, a population of free-living wild boar re-introduced into southern England. Wild boar in the UK have no natural predators and the potential to increase significantly in population size and range. Prior to any management procedures being developed, a better understanding of the wild boars' range and ecology in their British habitat would be required, and this thesis investigated their range, agricultural impact, habitat use and basic ecology.