Wild boar enclosure busted by gendarmes
Gendarmes came in on the illegal enclosure housing wild boar destined to be sold to hunters
Helicopters surveyed the area of Bas-en-Basset in the Haute-Loire prior to a land operation which uncovered 64 wild boars that had been bred in the 50 hectare enclosure. A suspiciously high number of boars has been sighted in the area.
“There may be up to 150, we haven’t been able to count them all yet,” said Christine Hacques, sub-prefect of Yssingeaux.
The presence of the boars was brought to attention when they wandered off of the enclosure. They could have caused up to €250,000 worth of damage to the surrounding farmland, according to the Fédération Nationale des Syndicats d'Exploitants Agricoles (FNSEA).
"We don’t understand why the authorities didn’t intervene sooner,” FNSEA head Yannick Fialip said. “We will take matters into our own hands with our own surveillance measures in communes where we find groups of wild animals are being bred. It isn’t right that a farmer should have his livelihood destroyed by a person who breaks the law”.
An enclosure run by the same person was already closed down in 2010. He was breeding the boars to sell live to hunting parties, where they end up cornered and torn apart by dogs as hunters watch.
The Association pour la Protection des Animaux Sauvages (ASPAS) is among the animal rights groups campaigning to end hunts in artificial enclosures, but French law allows a lot of leeway for such hunts. The Dogo Argentino breed, also known as the Argentine Mastiff, is often used in boar hunts. The breed is banned in several countries including Australia and Denmark, and a special licence is required to own one in the UK.
"More victims condemned to death," the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for animal rights tweeted:
