Wild boar campaigner Joyce Moss has received support from TV wildlife presenter and naturalist Chris Packham.

In it he says: “As you know I have opposed this cull and championed the cause of the boar for some time. Culling any species without a detailed knowledge of its population dynamics is entirely fallacious.

“A properly conducted cull should be designed to regulate a species numbers and this requires an independent scientific study of its breeding dynamics. Thus the shooting of wild boar in the Forest of Dean does not constitute a scientific cull. It’s just killing boar as to the best of my knowledge no such investigation has taken place, indeed no one even knows the actual number of boar that live there.

“What perplexes and angers me is the reason why the boar are being killed because I fear that it is a cruel mixture of intolerance and abject ignorance fuelled by some of the most idiotic scaremongering I’ve ever encountered. Why can’t residents find a passive solution to the boars presence? They do in France where I live. There these animals are an accepted and valued part of the community. Why when we perceive that wildlife has become a nuisance do we always reach for the gun rather than work towards a creative compromise?

“This ‘cull’ is a blight upon the reputation of the residents and managers of this beautiful part of the UK. It’s embarrassing in a place that calls itself a lover of animals and damages our reputation as conservationists. The monsters in your midst are not the boar, they are all human.” 

Forestry Commission at Bank House Coleford were unavailable to comment.