Second Wild Boar Encounter on Dartmoor Leaves Horse Rider Injured

Wild boars are on Dartmoor. People think someone released them illegally. A dog walker had a scary boar encounter, and now a horse rider’s friend fell off after a boar frightened her horse badly.

Dee Wilkinson lives near Princetown in Dartmoor National Park. She even filmed boars in her garden, something she’s never experienced in her life since living there.

Horse riders are worried because horses react badly to boars. One horse threw its rider, and Dee’s horse dislikes them a lot. Horses dislike all kinds of pigs, and seeing boars makes horses bolt.

Dee is not scared of them because they do not seem aggressive towards people. She thinks someone rewilded them, stating the area isn’t right, though dogs will chase the boars.

The pigs lack food and space, and they damage land that livestock need. They also invade farmers’ fields, and after Dee found the boars in her garden and filmed them, she realized they are lost and hungry.

Boars dislike dogs too. Gorse is out of control now, so walkers must use small paths, making it hard for people to escape boars easily. Experts think it was an illegal reintroduction.

Some want the boars to return because they used to live on Dartmoor before people hunted them to extinction in Britain by the 17th century.

Richard Blight is a dog walker who worries about kids meeting a boar. He thought managed boars were okay, but he does not think that any longer.

The park gets busy, especially in summer. Richard, who is sixty-two years old, said the boar was large, bigger than his dog, and he thinks it weighed 180 lbs. The attack was near Poundsgate.

Richard lives in Ashburton and walks on Dartmoor daily, now fearing the boars will cause damage. Dartmoor Park is aware of the boar sightings and working with landowners to get more information soon.

Devon Wildlife Trust is also aware and will explore the presence of boars.