Distribution and status of feral wild boar Sus scrofa in Dorset, southern England

1. A recently established feral population of wild boar Sus scrofa in Dorset, southern England, was studied by collecting details of escapes, live sightings and animals killed, by examining field signs and by making direct observations in the field. 2. Records were obtained from 47 national grid kilometre squares. Two or more records were received for 27 km(2) and the presence of boar confirmed by field signs in 21 of these. The population appears to have originated from escapes in winter 1994/95 and to have remained largely confined to within 11 km of the escape site. The large number of animals killed, relative to the number of animals which escaped, reports of shot sows carrying foetuses and observations of sows with piglets in the field, confirmed that breeding had taken place. 3. Estimates of live weight, estimated age, or descriptions of the animals killed were used to allocate each to a broad age class and thus construct a retrospective census. This suggested that the minimum population size peaked at about 30 animals in 1998 but that the prebreeding population has probably remained at fewer than 20 animals.