First wild boar cull on Highland estate after 'significant rise'
The company said the animals were causing damage to local habitat
A rewilding company has lead a cull of wild boar across a highland estate for the first time after recording a “substantial increase” in numbers.
Highlands Rewilding, founded by former director of Greenpeace Jeremy Leggett, said the growing herd of free-roaming feral pigs on Bunloit Estate, near Inverness, had caused “particularly heavy disturbance” to local habitat.
The company part-owns the 500-hectare estate which operates primarily as a rewilding and nature-restoration project and the company’s "primary scientific test-bed.”
In Highlands Rewilding’s annual report, Bunloit Estate workers said a drone survey completed earlier this year found an estimated minimum of 39 wild boar on the land. This is excluding some piglets that were due to be born.
The number is a rise from a steady herd of about 35 of the animals over the last four years, according to the research. Findings showed disturbance on the estate was either habitat-specific or fairly steady until last winter when impact from the herd was noticeably high.
The annual report, published on Tuesday, read: “This count, combined with the regular camera trap surveys, showed a substantial increase in numbers and activity, resulting in particularly heavy disturbance on the pastures.
“As a result, we have undertaken a cull of a small number of boar for the first time this year and will continue to monitor their numbers and behaviour, as well as carry out the transect and quadrat surveys to assess impacts on vegetation.”
A report published in the journal Science Direct last year showed numbers of wild boar in Scotland were expected to rise by more than 60 per cent in the next 50 years.
About 1,472 wild boar are projected to be roaming in Scotland today, with populations to be found in the west Highlands and Dumfries and Galloway.
The report, produced by the James Hutton environmental research institute, King's College London and the Zoological Society of London, forecast those numbers would rise to about 2,400 by 2075. The study is believed to be the first detailed analysis of wild boar dynamics across Scotland.
Wild boar used to be a native species in Scotland before being eradicated in the 13th century because of over-hunting and habitat loss. It is believed there is no such thing as wild boar left in the UK, and the wild roaming hogs are feral pigs.
However, genomic research from Europe suggests that it is difficult to draw clear boundaries between pure and hybrid wild boar.
A policy brief published earlier this year said that these animals can contribute to biodiversity by disturbing soil and creating new habitats - but also warns that, at high densities, they can threaten local biodiversity, including the degradation of sensitive habitats.
Calls have been made repeatedly over the last decade by farmers and land managers to introduce a policy to manage numbers in areas with higher numbers given there is no financial or practical support in Scotland, despite some businesses facing damage.
Highlands Rewilding used to own three estates: Bunloit, Beldorney in Aberdeenshire and a 514-hectare estate across Ulva and the Isle of Danna on the Tayvallich Peninsula, all purchased between 2020 and 2023.
By September 2024, Mr Leggett, announced all three had to be sold to pay back a loan he had taken for land restoration work.
Local communities were given first refusal as buyers but with “a very short timeline” of about four months to raise millions.
Mr Leggett said he had hoped to replicate a successful sale of part of the Tayvallich estate, on the west coast, to the local community trust across the other estates, but it did not happen.
Community Land Scotland (CLS) at the time said communities interested in buying one of the estates faced “an almost impossible challenge in funding” in the short timeframe given.
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