IN reply to Ian Harvey's assertion that the total of the Forestry Commission's yearly boar cull – 153 – has been reached in half the available time and that this shows numbers have increased, I would say that there is another reading of this assertion.

The Forestry Commission has, by now, probably killed most, if not all, of the experienced boar in the Forest and have reduced the population to a younger age group. This is borne out by the Friends of the Boar's analysis of the Forestry Commission's carcass statistics, which show a lot of young boar being slaughtered.

Their culling causes the younger population to breed more but they are more accident prone and easier to shoot. If the younger boar are more prolific, why do we think the numbers are going down? We believe this is because the Forestry Commission is creating a pool of young boar to shoot them more easily. The carcasses go for meat. This unbalanced situation creates more stress and weakness among the boar population and makes them more secretive.

I am glad the cull has stopped for the moment but I think there should be a moratorium on all boar shooting until there is concrete evidence that the numbers are going up. Even then, I think the boar will never increase beyond the capacity of the Forest to feed them. I do not think the Forestry Commission's audit will give an accurate set of figures, as they have admitted that neither thermal imaging nor nightscoping – the methods they use – are very accurate for boar.

I am horrified by the way the boar are treated in the Forest and so are many other people, when they learn the facts. These animals do not conflict with humans if they are left alone and they have as much right in the Forest as we do.

– Name and address supplied (Lydney).