A local woman, Kath Baldwin, got in touch with the Ross Gazette after she was horrified at the mess caused by wild boar at a beauty spot in the Forest of Dean.
Ms Baldwin told the Ross Gazette: “I have just been walking in the Forest with Ross Walking Group. We had lunch at Cannop Ponds Picnic Site.
“What a scene of devastation due to the wild boar. I feel sorry for any families wanting to use this popular spot anytime soon! It looks like a badly ploughed field. When will something be done about this destructive species?”
The Forest of Dean population of wild boar is the largest of the breeding populations that now exist in England. The original population established in woodlands near Ross-on-Wye after escaping from a wild boar farm in the area during the 1990s.
However, in 2004 a group of around 60 farm reared wild boar were dumped in an illegal release near the village of Staunton on the western edge of the Forest above the Wye Valley. By 2009 it was clear that the two populations had merged and a breeding population was thriving in the Forest.