WILDLIFE rangers are to resume the cull of wild boar in the Forest after Verderers decided their numbers could not be allowed to get out of control.

This week the Forestry Commission decided to cull 100 boar between now and January to bring the numbers down.

The population has grown since shooting was put on hold earlier this year amid concerns that boar were being wiped out.

Verderers accepted a recommendation by Forestry Commission chief Kevin Stannard that the Forest of Dean is big enough to sustain 400 animals, rather than the 90 originally recommended in 2009.

But with boar estimates varying between 200 and 600, they stopped short of setting a cull target needed to maintain that number.

Forestry Commission experts set a target cull 100 animals and will resume shooting this month,

Forestry Commission wildlife manager Ian Harvey recently returned from European conference on Boar management in Germany where he met with representatives from other areas facing explosions in the boar population.

"It's a species that divides opinion but I think the majority of people understand that the population needs to be controlled," he said.

"There has been an increase in complaints about the problems they have been causing and pretty much every day over the last fortnight there has been a road accident involving boar.

"Using information from the thermal imaging survey and a visual count, we have set a cull target of 100."

Last month a special committee set up by the Verderers to bring all sides together heard from wildlife ecologists, the Forestry Commission and the Friends of the Wild Boar.

It produced a joint statement which welcomed new survey work planned for this winter to try and estimate the numbers accurately.

A joint statement by members of the committee chaired by Verderer Ian Standing said: "Doing nothing in the long term is not an option.

"There are no natural predators and the reproductive capacity of wild boar is very high.

"With sows producing four or more young each year, a 50 percent reduction by emigration or humane control is needed to maintain numbers at a stable level."

Meanwhile CBeebies star Sarah Jane Honeywell has agreed to be patron of local group Friends of the Boar.

The TV presenter and vegan is due to see her profile raised when she takes part in Dancing on Ice and supporters she will help them make a film about the boar.

FRIENDS' PATRON: Sarah Jane Honeywell.