Letter: Living with boars

Sir: As the German Embassy's agricultural counsellor, I read your article 'Villagers join in hunt for marauding wild boars' (17 March) with some amusement. Indeed, these animals roamed the whole of Europe over centuries.

We have a culling figure in the old West Germany of about 175,000 and an amazing culling figure of 145,000 in the former East Germany. This makes together well over 300,000 wild boars harvested in Germany every year, and the population is still growing. There is certainly a damaging factor after the population density has exceeded a certain level, but their existence can only be favourable for nature. In the forests in Germany, we call them, because of their digging ability, the 'ploughs of the forests'.

This should put a perspective on the outcry about reports of a population of 10, 20 or 30 wild boars in Kent.

Yours sincerely,

C. J. WEIERS

First Counsellor (Agriculture)

Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany

London, SW1

17 March

(Photograph omitted)