A man died after a car crash on the M4 near Chippenham involving a wild boar that strayed onto the road
A
man died in a motorway crash involving a wild boar that had strayed
onto the carriageway in darkness, in an area where the increasing
population of the animals is causing problems.
The
47-year-old man died after his black Seat Ibiza collided with the stray
animal on the M4 in Wiltshire, between junctions 16 and 17 near
Swindon.
Populations
of wild boar have risen recently, particularly in the Forest of Dean
where the animals have caused havoc by digging up a cemetery and
damaging a roadside verge.
There are fears populations of the wild pigs are rising out of control after a number of recent incidents where they have invaded and destroyed playgrounds and football pitches.
The accident, which took place just before 7pm on Monday, happened less than two miles from a farm which has bred 200 wild boar. However police and owners of the Real Boar Company said the animal involved in the accident was not from the site.
After the car hit the animal it was then struck by a white Renault articulated lorry. The motorway was closed for more than seven hours until 1am today.
Wild boar were hunted almost to extinction but have started to return to the UK in the last 15 years, with populations growing in the Cotswolds and Forest of Dean - near the crash site. They can run up to 30mph and weigh around 20 stone when fully grown.
The animals can also jump 6ft.
Simon Gaskell, who owns the Real Boar Company that breeds the animal for salami, said: 'Wild boar do travel and they are prepared to travel quite a distance. It's only a matter of time before they start causing trouble.
Wild boar numbers have risen in nearby Forest of Dean and a wild one may have been involved in the crash
'It wasn't one of ours involved. They are all behind a big fence. I have heard of boar coming up from the Forest of Dean though. They would have been here about three to four hundred years ago but they are not common any more.
'You always here rumours of them being around though. It's not very often they're spotted here. It's much more common in Devon and Cornwall where it's much quieter. In the area we've always tried to keep them away for this very reason.
'This incident is one of those horrific things that happens when they are around. Boar are very hard and very dense.'
The driver of the car was killed instantly and the lorry driver did not suffer any serious injuries in the accident.
Police Sergeant Steven Love of Wiltshire Police said: 'This is a truly tragic incident and my thoughts are with the family and friends of the victim.
'It is quite rare for a wild boar to be on the carriageway of the motorway.
'It is more common for the police to receive calls involving horses or deer but each is equally dangerous to motorists.
A DESTRUCTIVE NUISANCE OR A RETURN TO NATURE? WILD BOAR POPULATIONS ON THE RISE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE
Wild boar were hunted to extinction in Britain several centuries ago.
But their population has started to rise again after several programmes to reintroduce them in the last fifteen years.
There are now thriving herds spreading out into the countryside.
Boar are usually secretive and nocturnal and are likely to stay out of the way of humans.
When fully grown a wild boar weighs around 20 stone and can jump 6ft.
They can also travel large distances and reach speeds of 30mph.
In medieval times, boar from the Royal Forest were supplied for the Royal table - there is a record of an order for 100 boars and sows for a Christmas feast in 1254.
Boar are known to inhabit parts of the Cotswolds and the Forest of Dean.
The animals have roamed wild in the Forest of Dean in 2004, after a 700 year absence.
They started to populate the wild in 1999 after several escaped from a farm and in 2004 a group of 60 were dumped - further boosting wild populations.
Since then the population has grown steadily - with complaints about them digging up graveyards, gardens and grass verges.
Farming of wild boar in Britain became fashionable in the 1970s and boar originating from the European mainland were kept under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976.
'This was a particularly large wild animal and would have caused considerable damage to any vehicle.'
The boar is also thought to have died in the crash.
A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said that officers were baffled as to how the wild boar came to be wandering in the motorway - with the nearest colonies thought to be in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire and in East Sussex.
The last time a wild boar was seen in Wiltshire was on the on the A365 in December 2009.
A children's playground was left destroyed in November after a herd of wild boar grazed on the land in the Forest of Dean for two months. Homeowners in Lydney also reported damage to their gardens.
Residents in Lydney in the Forest of Dean had their gardens damaged by the beasts last year
Rangers say the Forest of Dean wild boar population is doubling every year thanks to the spread of commercial crops such as maize.
In 2013 people living in and around the Forest of Dean said they were increasingly uneasy about the number of wild boar nearby.
Wild boar dug up land where the ashes of loved ones were scattered at the Pan Tod Beacon beauty spot on Ruardean Hill outside Cinderford. The animals also destroyed grass verges in the area and in 2013 the Forestry Commission announced a cull on the population.
In 2008 one had to be shot at Ruardean Primary School and two years later the animals destroyed a football pitch.