RSPB staff often expect to find many varied and wonderful species on their visits to habitats in Fermanagh but not what they found recently. Two wild boar or hybrids of wild boars and domestic pigs, were discovered roaming among scrubland. There was evidence that they had been there some time, as the ground had been badly dug up by the animals hunting for roots and other food.

The shock discovery in Fermanagh is believed to be the first in Northern Ireland of wild boar which are now regarded as an invasive species and which have to be eradicated under the joint departmental protocols agreed by the Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland governments.

The RSPB has followed this protocol.

Brad Robson, Fermanagh Area Manager of the RSPB said he and other staff were certainly surprised at the discovery.

“Staff found two animals had turned up on an island in Lough Erne. There’s no way of finding out where they came from. There have been some wild boar living wild in the Irish countryside and as far north as Sligo or they may have been put there deliberately.

“We also didn’t know if they were actually wild boar or boar/pig hybrids but they looked like wild boar.” Animals such as these could destroy the habitats of ground nesting birds resident in the area even though wild boars are part of the countryside in mainland Europe where they are part of the natural wildlife balance. However there are greater risks to their presence.

The RSPB took advice from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and under the Invasive Species Ireland protocols, wild boar have been identified as an invasive species and under the agreed strategy, they must be destroyed.

Brad Robson explained that this was to prevent a rise in population of the species in the wild as they are not native to the area and also because they could have posed a significant risk of carrying disease to the domestic pig herd.

Wild boar were once native to Ireland but became extinct. Then for a number of years, wild boar or their hybrids were officially recorded and thought to be totally eradicated in 2009. However more of them have been located in parts of the countryside in the Republic of Ireland in recent years and a litter of nine piglets were recorded from one site.

Under agreements between the relevant departments north and south, it is illegal to release wild boar to the ‘wild’ without a licence granted from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern `or National Parks and Wildlife Service depending on the jurisdiction in question.

Until now, the main invasive species affecting Northern Ireland have been zebra mussels and certain plants.

The focus of Invasive Species Ireland is on invasive species which have been introduced deliberately or accidentally by humans and have a negative impact on the economy, wildlife or habitats of Ireland and Northern Ireland. After habitat loss, invasive species are the second biggest threat to biodiversity worldwide, and the biggest threat on islands.