Saturday 25 June 2011

If You Go Down In The Woods Forest Of Dean Today...

A former councillor in the Forest of Dean said it is "inevitable" someone will soon be shot
Blimey! Are they getting serious about litter dropping..?
as wild boar poaching is so rife.
Ah. Personally, I prefer them roast...
Alistair Fraser, a former district councillor, keeps four orphaned boar at his home Smallbrook Farm, near Woolaston, and is a staunch supporter of the breed.
Me too! They're delicious!
He said: "These poachers are bloodthirsty and they will shoot anything that moves.

It's hard to know what's what at night.

"It is inevitable that sooner or later someone will get shot."
He said: "It is now a police matter.

"There are some nasty people out there, and they need to be stopped. I've seen people with guns, and the bullets they use go a long way.

"I would urge anyone thinking of walking in the woods late at night to be careful."
Wow! The usually-cautious authorities must be sweating, then.

But wait. It seems that they aren't:
Kevin Stannard, deputy surveyor of the Forestry Commission, said work is ongoing to control the numbers, but poaching must be stopped.

But he refuted the claim that people's safety is at risk.

He said: "I certainly would not agree that it is 'inevitable' someone will be shot – despite the seriousness of the issue, I am confident that the true risk to the public is negligible.

"We do liaise with the police over this matter, and we are confident that the police take the subject very seriously."
Who is right? Time will tell...

5 comments:

Jiks said...

Having lived near the Forest of Dean and visited a few people who live out in the woods there I would suspect that wild boars being shot and eaten is the least of our worries.

Some seriously off the rails, scary people around there.

Trevor said...

...we are confident that the police take the subject very seriously.
I imagine their priority would be to commission a 'Diversity impact assessment' to ascertain if any minority group is likely to be disproportionately affected - because if there's one thing we do well in modern Britain, it's keeping things in proportion.

(This story cries out for a pun about Lesbian, feminist, gay, Muslim, Transgender, Disabled or Environ-mentalist bores, but I can't decide which one to go for.)

Quiet_Man said...

All depends on whether they actually hit what they are aiming at I guess.
I walk the dog through woodlands where they hunt with shotguns, no-one has ever been hit by pellets, never mind injured.

Anonymous said...

Depends on the weapon used. Shotguns are fairly safe but a rifle bullet goes a long way.

I have lamped at night at a property the size of a county in western NSW. The owner was very cautious about where the homestead was and we could only fire away from it.

Only a prat would use a rifle at night in crowded UK.

JuliaM said...

"Some seriously off the rails, scary people around there."

Yikes!

"I imagine their priority would be to commission a 'Diversity impact assessment' to ascertain if any minority group is likely to be disproportionately affected - because if there's one thing we do well in modern Britain..."

Heh, indeed we do...

"I walk the dog through woodlands where they hunt with shotguns, no-one has ever been hit by pellets, never mind injured."

There's always a first time, can't be too careful, think of the children, etc, etc...