A PIECE of Forest history has been put up for sale to help groups opposed to the cull of wild boar.

A 150-year-old bell from Bell's Grammar School in Coleford has been put up for sale on an online auction site with bids closing on Saturday.

The heirloom is being auctioned by animal rights activist Ingrid Newkirk whose great uncle was headmaster of the school.

Ms Newkirk is the founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), a charity which campaigns against the use of animals for any reason including food, clothing and experimentation.

In the listing on e-Bay there is also a statement from Ms Newkirk which also takes a swipe at 'human interlopers' in the Forest.

A spokesperson for PETA said: "The wild boar population of the Forest of Dean is in danger, with a controversial cull planned that would kill dozens of animals. Animal activists around the world are speaking out against the plan, including PETA, and the organisation's founder, Ingrid Newkirk, has taken an extraordinary step, placing up for auction a family heirloom – the bell her great-uncle, who was the headmaster of a grammar school in Coleford, rang from his school's steps each morning.

"The proceeds of the auction will help fund activists' fight against the cull."

She said: "My great-uncle Sidney and my father, who spent his boyhood in Coleford, loved the Forest of Dean – they knew its paths and peculiarities well and, as amateur ethologists (the science of animal behaviour) and hobby botanists, appreciated the trees, plants, birds and other wildlife in it.

"Both would be whirling in their graves at the thought that the wild boars were being cavalierly dismissed as 'pests' and would say that the real pests are the human interlopers who appreciate nothing natural, only artificial constructs and pleasures.

"I am glad to sell this bell if the proceeds might be used to preserve the boars who call the forest home."

PETA claims the cull could actually lead to a spike in the food supply, prompting surviving animals to breed at a faster rate 'leading to a continuous and pointless killing cycle.'

Earlier this year a survey by the Forestry Commision which used thermal imaging techniques to estimate the number of boar in the Forest found 819 animals.

A Commission spokeswoman confirmed a cull will take place between autumn and spring. A?bid of £102 had been made for the bell when the Review went to press.