Wild Boar anybody ???

[JustJohn or JJ]

Radioactive wild boar roaming the forests of Germany

By Justin Huggler, Berlin

3:59PM BST 01 Sep 2014



Since 2012, it has been compulsory for hunters to have wild boar they kill in Saxony tested for radiation.

Twenty-eight years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, its effects are still being felt as far away as Germany – in the form of radioactive wild boars.

Wild boars still roam the forests of Germany, where they are hunted for their meat, which is sold as a delicacy.

But in recent tests by the state government of Saxony, more than one in three boars were found to give off such high levels of radiation that they are unfit for human consumption.

Outside the hunting community, wild boar are seen as a menace by much of Germany society. Autobahns have to be closed when boar wander onto them, they sometimes enter towns and, in a famous case in 2010, a pack attacked a man in a wheelchair in Berlin.

But radioactive wild boars stir even darker fears.

[pieter]

John,


Wild boars in the Veluwe forest region

There are thousands of Wild Boars in the Eastern part of the Netherlands in the large forest area's like the Veluwe North of the city I live in Arnhem. I love Wild Boar meat and the meat of deer and haze. Wild boars don't know borders and thus migrate from country to country. Ukrainian Wild Boars move to Poland, Polish Wild Boar move to Germany, and German (and maybe originally Ukrainian/Polish) Wild Boar move to the Netherlands. And vice versa, Dutch Wild Boar also move to Germany and Belgium. And Belgian Wild Boar move to the Netherlands. Forests and woods don't stop at borders. Many forests, like mountain area's are situated in several countries.


A Common wild boar piglet in the Netherlands

There are very many of them over here in my region, but you seldom see them because they are wild animals, in normal circumstances avoid people and have their own space in the woods, where they have their mud pools, their own trails and their territories. Parts of the Veluwe that have been separated from each other by roads, towns and farmland are being reconnected by returning farmland to nature and creating wildlife crossings over highways. In 2012, nine of these overpasses had been built, each one about 50 metres wide and covered with sand and vegetation to encourage animals to use it. Wildlife corridors connecting the Veluwe to other wildlife areas such as the Oostvaardersplassen in the Netherlands are being developed and further connections to Germany are an option. It is hoped that by doing so the genetic diversity of the wildlife population will increase. The Veluwe is home to many different species of animals. Next to wild boars several species of deer, several species of snakes (including the common viper), Pine Martens, foxes, and badgers live there.

If German wild boars are radio active, there will be radio active wild boars in the Netherlands (soon) too.


A group of Wild Boars in the forest-rich ridge of hills (1100 km²) of the Veluwe in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands.

Cheers,
Pieter

[pieter]

Some video's of wild boars in the Veluwe







I have seen several of them in the twenty two years I live here. Once I encountered a large group when I was biking in a national park and the group crossed my bike road. Because it was suddenly (unexpected) I nearly got a heart attack. Last year I saw some individual boars with my parents when we stayed in a hotel in Epe, in the Northern part of the Veluwe.

Here a group of wild boars in an Epe neighborhood (filmed by two Epe civilians who filmed from their window and put the video on youtube). They created a lot of damage for gardens, green lawns of the muncipality and are considered a plague by farmers and some garden owners. Ofcourse hunters would like to kill a lot of them. But there are hunting restrictions in the Netherlands. Stil a lot of wild boar are shot and used in the restaurants of the Veluwe and Gelderland as a wild speciality. The meat of wild boar has a special taste. Quite different than pork meat.



And other neighbors filmed them too


Here the wild boars damage public green in the town of Epe


Cheers,
Pieter

[karl]

J.J.

Was my self to laugh a bit with your wild boar presentation for it brought back a flood of memoires I had thought forgotten. Then to watch several videos presented by Pieter with his experiences with a meet up with some whilst cycling. This is not uncommon by also a bit rare for as Pieter mentioned, wild boar generally in the wild stay away from people and only by accident to cross paths.

A trip I would take for a few days to escape away from people, was into the Harz Mountains, usually to leave my auto in Treseburg and pay for hotel parking for a few days with a small room. This is a dense forest area with thick pines and in season very popular with tourist, these I avoided as a plague.

There are many stories some of the people enjoy to tell the tourist of witches and nasty wild animals that live in these forest, the witch stories are lies, but the animals are not. Two animals to take care with any meeting in the forest, is a group of wild Boars and moose. Moose are very unpredictable and may charge through most any heavy bushed and treed area as if it was blades of grass with their bulk. For those things are very big and curious.

My entent was usually a twilight prowl hike over some of the logging roads and staying off the usual hiking trails. For then to not meet any tourist on a trail. At this time of the late day though, it was/is not unusual to sight a group of boars, deer or other animals in this their time to hunt and roam. By always sighting a head as far as the trees and road will allow, then to allow time to stop before coming to close to an animal or a group of pigs with their young. They do enjoy to root about and eat roots and fungus they dig up. Then as if their clock rings out, they walk simply disappear into the forest.

In this manner to sit very still at the base of a tree to watch them root about and play, I am sure they knew on many of these times of my presence and only tolerated because I was not a bother to then or a threat.

In season, the many berries become ripe in these forest, but, although the birds and animals will eat them, it is not a good idea for people. This reason is there is a nasty parasite: Fuchsbandwurm that some times lives in wild berries and if eaten, will make a person very sick indeed so. Some people I have heard of, have been so sickend as to die from them. It is a good idea to just take a flask of water and what ever such as sandwitches in the nape sack if to eat on the trail..

On these trails in the forest, I would let my eyes adjust to the darkness and if the moon is out the trails and rough logging roads are not a problem. A person then has the chance to hear and see the night creatures that are about for then the night sounds and the forest comes alive.

I do hope you do not think I am crazy prowling about at night in the forest as such. But, whilst a young fellow, I begin this whilst growing up in Denmark. There we had the sea fog that would come over land into the forest and it was fun to walk with it into any of the forest clearings. At that time, in my emagination, I was looking for the little people that lived in and about in the forest. Of course I was not to see any, but did get into trouble for falling asleep in some leaves once whilst a bit further then usual.

Karl

[Jaga]

Pieter,

it is a good break to watch the wild animals after all of the dirty politics going on.
In Europe it is not really easy to see wild animals, even wild boar.
We went to Jackson and Tetons National Park for Sunday/Monday. It was beautiful but we did not see any bigger animals than red squirrels and chipmunks. We were hoping for a deer, especially mule deer, which we saw last time, but we just could not find it or maybe there were just too many people around.