Rewilding Futures: Shaping Tomorrow's Wild

Wild boar have been back in the UK for over 30 years – but their return remains incomplete and contested. Unique ecosystem engineers, wild boar were driven to extinction in Britain by the 1300s. Thanks to a mix of illegal releases and escapes, breeding populations now dwell once more in several parts of Scotland and the Forest of Dean (and, possibly, elsewhere in southwest England). Nevertheless, as a species they are still functionally extinct here, and a range of environmental, social, and economic arguments have been deployed against the possibility of official reintroduction. This talk explores the current state of play for wild boar, and their future prospects – from the story of how people have learned to live with them in the Forest of Dean, to the spectre of African Swine Fever which could spell the end of their resurgence in the UK.