Farmers in Scotland see wild boar pulling apart and eating sheep
- Published
One estimate says there could be as many as 5,000 wild boar in Scotland
Scotland's growing population of wild boar is causing "chaos" by digging up fields and attacking livestock, farmers have said.
The head keeper of Aberchalder and Glengarry Estate told BBC Scotland he had seen three boars attack a ewe.
Other farmers in the Scottish Highlands say they regularly kill lambs.
However, conservation charity Trees For Life said wild boar could benefit nature and wildlife if managed correctly.
The Scottish government said it was working with NatureScot to determine the risks posed by the species.
Wild boar are omnivores with a diet consisting mostly of roots, bulbs and seeds.
However, Steven McKenzie, the head keeper at Aberchalder and Glengarry Estate south of Fort Augustus, said he had seen wild boar attacking livestock.
He told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "They're definitely preying on the sheep on purpose.
"As we came into the field we saw three pigs. They had encircled a ewe [and] they had her on her back and were quite literally pulling her apart and eating her.
"I was able to put a shot off and dispatch one of the pigs before the other two disappeared into the forest."
Female wild boar can produce two litters of eight or nine piglets a year
The National Farmers Union (NFU) Scotland has also warned wild boar could spread African swine fever and other diseases to the pig population.
Robin Traquair, vice-president of NFU Scotland and a pig farmer, said: "If the wild boar start to break into outdoor pig farms, that could cause a massive risk to disease. We've got a very successful outdoor pig herd in the north east.
"The immediate risk is mange, worms and parasites and suchlike. However, we have African swine fever in Germany just now.
"If it comes into this country and gets into the wild boar herd then it's at a massive risk of putting outside pigs at risk as well - and actually finishing that industry off."
The Mammal Society, external estimates there could be as many as 5,000 wild boar in Scotland.
The animals typically weigh 90-100kg (198lb-220lb), but Mr McKenzie said he was now seeing wild boar weighing more than 200kg (441lb) in groups of up to 26 at a time.
NFU Scotland believe there is a risk wild boar could spread African swine flu to the outdoor pig industry in Scotland
But the chief executive of Trees For Life, Steve Micklewright, said the return of wild boar in Scotland could actually be "quite a good thing".
Mr Micklewright said: "They root around the soil. They dig up things and that provides space for seedlings to grow and trees to establish, which could have a lot of benefit for nature and wildlife.
"What we think is needed is for the Scottish government to accept that wild boar is a native species and therefore it requires a management strategy.
"That way we can get those benefits on nature reserves and open ground but we can also deal with them when they're causing problems."
Over-hunted
Wild boar live together in large social groups known as sounders, with females able to produce two litters per year of about eight or nine.
The UK's best known sounder of about 900 wild boar is in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire.
Wild Boar used to be a native species in Scotland before being eradicated in the 13th Century because of over-hunting and habitat loss.
The Scottish government said it fully understood the threats posed by wild boar and feral pigs and was working closely with Scotland's natural heritage agency NatureScot to determine the risks.