IRATE readers have been calling and e-mailing the Review offices to complain about further damage by the wild boar around the district – damage they say is getting much worse and more widespread.

In an emotional email, Pat Turner of Pillowell wrote, on behalf of her husband Ray and herself: "My husband and I have been awake since 1am for the past two weeks. We have been plagued by the boar getting into our garden – and our garden is getting decimated!

"A guy from the Forestry Commission came to see us, we were told that the only thing we can do is make our perimeter boar-proof. That is what we have been doing for the past week...putting barbed wire on top of walls, blocking up spaces, and they are still getting in."

And to the boar supporters, she wrote: "It's okay for these people who want the boar to stay in the Forest, but do they know what it's like getting up in the morning to see all your hard work, time and monies being ploughed away by the boar? Do they have to tell their young grandsons 'you cannot go to the top of the garden by yourselves just in case?"

She also lamented the fact that they could not let their dog out at night for fear of boar attacks.

She concluded: "Finally a warning to you all - if your perimeter wall or fencing is less than four foot six inches beware – the boar can jump!"

The Turners' garden, some three acres, has seen lawns and paths ripped and turned over by the animals, who she believes are accessing their property from adjoining woodlands – the ownership of which she told us they are investigating.

Terry Priddy of Brierley told us of his own tales of woe over the roaming pigs: "I had a lovely garden which was as well maintained as a golf course, and in the paddock I grew wild orchids. Last year we had 80 - 100 flowers there, but this year we have absolutely none. The boar have gone at it like a digger to get at the plant bulbs - and they have eaten absolutely the lot."

Finally, the headless carcass of a wild boar was spotted in the stream near Jubilee Lane near Gunnsmill, Flaxley. Callers expressed their concerns about contamination of the watercourse. It is not known how or when the body was dumped in the water – or indeed why it had been decapitated.