DAVID Slater of the Friends of the Boar group says members are delighted that a closed season has been agreed for culling wild boar in the Forest.

The agreement to stop killing wild boar was hammered out at a 'groundbreaking' meeting last week between group members, the Forestry Commission and the Forest of Dean District Council.

"We are obviously delighted with this outcome and give full credit to Kevin Stannard of the Forestry Commission who proposed the move after much reasoned and friendly debate," Mr Slater states in a blog on http://friendsoftheboar.blogspot.com">http://friendsoftheboar.blogspot.com

However the group cautions the move is an experimental one and as such not an agreed no-killing period for future years – a warning echoed by Review wildlife column­ist Rob Ward who says much depends on how people and boar interact before culling starts again.

Mr Slater says the break will "give the wild boar and their piglets every opportunity to prove to us this summer that they are a welcome addition to this forest."

There remains a good deal of controversy over how many boar there are in the Forest, with the Forestry Commission giving a figure of 400-450 following a cull of 150.

And both Rob Ward and David Slater say it is vital to stop feeding the boar because it "promotes unnatural breeding success, as well as unwelcome tameness and increasing traffic hazards" as well as the possibility it will distort the findings from the closed season.

Before the agreement was reached it was widely expected that culling would be increased this year.