I HAVE read Mr Packham’s article concerning the feral boar problem (Review, April 8). I like to see a few boar in the woodlands but appreciate the need to control their numbers.

It seems the best answer lies with the Forestry Commission and the responsible use of guns.

But Mr Packham wants a ‘passive solution’, as in France where he lives.

He says: “These animals are an accepted and valued part of the community.”

It sounds good, for we, too wish for a more humane method but he doesn’t tell us how this ‘passive solution’ works – which prompts one to look at the idea.

So I did. How do the French control wild boar numbers?

Writing in 2010, Hugh Schofield, a BBC reporter in Paris, states that hunters were “urged to declare war on the boar.”

The government enacted a National Wild Boar Control Plan authorising the hunting of boar all year round, in suburban zones as well as countryside and at night as well as in the daytime.

Hundreds of thousands of euros are paid to compensate farmers for the damage caused by wild boar. Hugh Schofield gives a few figures for 2009, when 560,000 boar were killed. Hardly a ‘passive solution’ I think.

Does Mr Packham think that ‘these animals are an accepted and valued part of the community’ when it was reported that the boar were responsible for nearly 21,000 road accidents in 2009?

It is possible, of course, though very unlikely, that there has been a sensationally dramatic reduction in boar numbers in France since 2009.

However, I am told by people who visit France, that hunting is the norm.

Hunters go out for sport on Sunday mornings, donned in high visibility jackets, with rifles and hounds, hunting boar for fun. In my opinion, the worst possible motive for killing any creature! The season extends from August to February.

Finally, I strongly urge all Friends of the Boar and Mr Packham’s designated ‘monsters’, indeed everyone, to take a look, on-line at the ‘passive’ control of boar and boar hunting in France.

It gives me no pleasure to say that, in my opinion, Mr Packham’s article was an uninformed, insulting and extremely arrogant rant – quite unworthy of any TV presenter or public figure.

He is the sole architect of his own shattered credibility and reputation.

– ‘Monster’ B Kear, Lydney.