WHEN Tavistock Camera Club member Grahame Coker went for a stroll on the moor near his home last week in Horrabridge, one of the last things he expected was to be greeted by a herd of runaway wild boars. But the porcine wanderers were happily nuzzling away at the local terrain so Grahame returned the next evening with his daughter Emma and managed to ?capture? them on film. He said the boar was the size of a ?fat Alsatian dog?. Grahame, 54, said: ?There were around eleven of them. They appear to be tolerant, to a point, of human presence which leads me to believe they are escapees from last year?s farm release by animal rights protesters, but I have no proof of that. ?They were aware of our presence and one walked straight towards me, I took the picture, and then he did a right turn and went into the bush. ?I would say they were more timid than aggressive.? For keen snapper Grahame, who has been a club member since 1996 and works in the estates department of Derriford Hospital, it was like hitting the jackpot as natural history is his favourite picture topic. He took the picture on his Nikon D100. ?When I took the picture (right) it was like the ball hitting your head in football and going into the net. It was a great feeling.? He sent his digital picture to the British Wild Boar Association who told him they are very healthy looking wild boar with no signs of impurity with domestic pig blood. The association?s spokesman said: ??Their dark coats imply they are of east European origin, as opposed to west European, as west Europeans have lighter and more brown-coloured coats. ?These animals appear remarkably tame and unafraid of being active in daytime. ?This is unusual and implies they have only recently been let out or escaped from captivity. ?Free-living wild boar in most areas are frequently shot or shot at, and quickly learn to become nocturnal. For example, the boar in Kent/East Sussex which originated over ten to 15 years ago, are completely nocturnal and scared to death of people. ?As you are south of Dartmoor I doubt if the animals are from the north Devon escape, which occurred just north of Tiverton. ?Although boar are great travellers, there is too much suitable safe habitat, particularly on Dartmoor itself, for them to need to emerge on the south side. ?Also, I visited the boar farm where they were liberated from on many occasions in East Anstey. The boar there were in natural woodland enclosures and hence were very wary of people. They were not that tame before they were released and certainly would not allow anyone to get near to them. Grahame, who lives on the Manor Estate, is looking forward to show his boar pictures to his fellow Tavistock Camera Club members, who meet once a fortnight on a Wednesdays between 7pm and 10pm, at the Alexander Centre, in Plymouth Road, Tavistock.
