Scotland is considered host to some of the UK’s wildest landscapes, from valley glens to expansive forests. It is home to many conservation areas such as the Caledonian Forest and has two official National Parks; the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, established in 2002, Scotland’s first National Park, and the Cairngorms National Park, established a year later in 2003. The Cairngorms National Park saw further expansion granted in 2010.
While Scotland has gained conservation areas and National Parks, it has also lost native species, both flora and fauna, which are intrinsically linked to each other’s survival and the trophic health of their unique ecosystems. One of Scotland’s most significant losses are its native woodland habitats, with only ~2% forest cover remaining today. Although climate change has played its part, it can only be held accountable for a small proportion of the decline, with anthropogenic deforestation considered to be the main cause. The forests that remain are heavily grazed and browsed by red deer (Cervus Elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and sheep (Ovis aries), which contribute considerably to the lack of native woodland regeneration and plant species diversity seen today. While fewer ungulates in the impacted areas and/or fencing off designated restoration zones aid in the regrowth of native forests, this does not address the problem of the regrowth of specific species. In fact, limiting ungulate grazing can lead to a ground vegetation dominance that prevents germination and establishment of target species seeds.
To counter this dilemma, rewilding is currently a favoured framework within the ecological community for the restoration of lost native ecosystems and habitats, not only in the UK, but around the world. Rewilding, at its centre, requires three factors: large, protected reserves; connectivity between protected areas and the presence keystone species. A keystone species is a species with strong interactions and a trophic effect on the diversity of other species, and where competition is significant compared to its biomass dominance. One of these species is the locally extant wild boar (Sus scrofa), which were hunted to extinction in Scotland by the 1300s but have since become a poster species for rewilding in the Highlands.
With regards to rewilding, wild boar perform an important role, specifically within woodland regeneration. Wild boar are a keystone species that are fundamentally ecological engineers within a woodland environment. Specifically, wild boar are woodland dwelling animals that are most effective when roaming and rooting in oak and beech dominant woodlands or forests. They display seasonal variations within their preferred diet, depending on the availably, nutritional content and energy value of the plants that they either graze, browse or root for. Approximately 90% of the wild boar’s diet consists of plants, and their most useful function during the rewilding of native woodland process is the reduction of invasive bracken (Pteridium aquilinum). This is an essential part of their diet during the autumn and winter months. The wild boar dig out the roots, specifically the bracken rhizomes, which are nutrient rich and high in energy for the longer colder months of the year. Ground disturbance, and the removal of aggressive and invasive species like bracken, all leads to areas being cleared for preferred seeds to be able to germinate, therefore restoring native ecosystem in a totally natural way.
Rewilding has always come with its controversies though. One of the most vocal and prolific groups against rewilding has been the farming community, and not without good reasons. Britain has limited land resources, by nature of it being a small, but highly populated island. Only 6.1% of land is protected and designated as Special Sites of Scientific interest (SSSIs), there are also national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty which contribute 23.5% of greenspace land. Farmers argue that an ever-increasing demand for food production, in line with an increasing human population, puts land resources at a premium.
In 2022, Katarzyna Mikoƚajczak from the Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics, and her team published a study they had conducted involving 36 representatives of the farming community, from farmers to land managers, and representatives from various farming associations across the UK. In the study, they investigated how farmers perceive some popular rewilding strategies, including the topic of native animal reintroduction. Food production and farmers’ roles in providing high-quality food in sufficient quantities to supply the country were major concerns for the interviewees. They believed that while food production can still continue within the scope of re-wilding, it would impact the amount of farmland and therefore lead to more food being imported. Importing food leads to possibly higher carbon footprints and calls into question the welfare of the animals from other countries, and the quality of the food coming in.
While most farmers surveyed saw the ecological and environmental benefit of rewilding, some expressed concerns over safety of rewilding. They stated that reintroduction of some species could pose a threat to other native species which are still extant, both plant and animal, and particularly to ground nesting birds. The disturbance of ground nesting birds is especially concerning in the cases of wild boar reintroductions, as they are woodland dwelling animals who root and disturb the ground while searching for food. Although there aren’t that many species of bird that ground nest in woodland, many of the rewilding schemes in Scotland that have introduced wild boar, do connect to open heath and moorland that is home to ground nesting species such as the partridge, pheasant and grouse, all of which are managed for food and sporting activities vital to the economy of some local areas in Scotland.
Containment is therefore a major concern to the farming community when discussing rewilding by reintroduction of wild boar.
Most recently, Ross Hunter, The National newspaper in Scotland, reported that Scottish farmers were asking the Scottish Government to formulate a policy to tackle the increasing problem of feral pigs in the country. The farmers claim that the problem of feral pigs are borne from reintroduced wild boar which have subsequently escaped their enclosures or have been illegally released and have interbreed with domesticated farmed pigs, creating a feral hybrid. They believe that there are populations of these feral pigs now established in Dumfries and Lochaber, with other populations establishing around Cawdor, Inverness and Blairgowrie, Perthshire. A spokesman for the National Farmers Union of Scotland (NFUS) claimed that the feral pigs have been seen attacking and killing lambs and sheep, as well as causing damage to crops.
In 1997, O Howells of the University of Edinburgh and G Edwards-Jones of the Scottish Agricultural College investigated the practicability of reintroducing wild boar back to Scotland. Their study looked at the dietary requirements and the food quantities required by wild boar to maintain a healthy breeding population. In contrast to the claims by Scottish farmers through the NFUS, the wild boar and feral pig’s diet was found to be mainly vegetable matter, consisting of birch and oak browsing with bracken foraging, with most boar sustaining a less than optimal diet. Wild boars were also found to be opportunist eaters and will feed on crops if available, and that 90% of their diet is made up of plant matter. It is therefore speculatory that it is feral pigs or wild boar that are attacking lambs and sheep.
According to their study, Howells and Edwards-Jones conclude that 3 to 4 wild boar per km-2 is the optimal level at which they occupy an area. Only when supplementary feeding has been provided in other studies did their populations grow significantly, however supplementary feeding would not be occurring, if the farmers claims are true and the boar are feral and outside of designated rewilding areas.
The farmers also highlighted the risk of disease transmission between the wild boar and the locally farmed pigs, as well as between wild boar and more alarmingly, humans. A study conducted by Margarida Andrade Sousa and her team and the Moredun Research Institute, near Edinburgh, found that a strain of staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was living on the skin and snout of wild boar in Portugal. This study led to calls to limit the wild boar populations in Scotland, but findings by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) have shown that there is a very low risk of the infection being spread and that if infection does occur, it is “very mild”. The FSA go on to state that at the time of their independent investigation, no human has contracted MRSA through handling or eating of wild boar or pork in the UK.
The one disease that can be transmitted between wild boar, feral pigs and domesticated pig stock is Classical Swine Flu (CSF), although this is not a known zoonotic disease (transferable between swine and humans) and CSF was last recorded in the UK in 2000. Most EU countries are now regarded as free from CSF, and with the last recorded cases in the UK being over 20 years ago, it is not considered prevalent and a threat to livestock, even though it is still a concern for the farming communities where wild boar are resident in nearby rewilding schemes.
Concerns such as these are an intrinsic part of any rewilding project and communication between the farming communities and the rewilders is vital to alleviate their fears and fears from the general public. To achieve this, many rewilding projects involve specific farming groups, such as NFUS, which can provide lists of farmers within their Union. Project co-ordinators can send out surveys to ascertain the attitudes of the farming community to projects within their area. The issue with surveys being sent out, is that most farmers are too busy to read and answer them. It can also be proposed that surveys are very one sided and don’t give the opportunity for free expression of concerns or general questions regarding the projects proposed. Thomas (2022) investigated how to communicate a rewilding project more effectively to farmers who may struggle with a ‘cultural shift’ in their working practices. The idea of ‘Pioneer farmers’ emerged from discussions with various farming participants in the project. These ‘pioneers’ would be farmers within the community that were less ‘risk averse’ and were able to communicate with the more reticent farmers. They would be able to communicate and talk about the new concepts being proposed on the same level as their peers. This exchange of knowledge and information would be leading by example by the ‘pioneer farmers’. Being able to benefit from local knowledge and lay expertise is vital for the success of any rewilding project, especially when it involves the reintroduction of native fauna that could be perceived as dangerous or detrimental. Engaging the local farming communities from the outset and using this method of communicating the concepts and methodologies used could help alleviate the fears and concerns of the local farming communities.
It would be interesting and informative to see if the use of in person communication by scientists, conservationists and ‘pioneer farmers’ had a positive effect on the attitudes of farming communities in Scotland, but also see how those initial rewilding plans evolve and develop though the input of local knowledge. Rewilding using the reintroduction of native animal species is controversial, especially when those species have been extinct for hundreds of years. Farming communities have developed practices in their absence that would require modification to accommodate animals that do not necessarily benefit them directly, but through communication, farmers can understand that they can co-exist with the wild boar, without harming their livelihoods.
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