A public alert is to be issued warning residents and visitors to the Forest of Dean not to attempt to feed the Forest's population of wild boar as fears heighten over the spread of the deadly African Swine Fever virus (ASF).
The move, planned by Forestry England and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), comes amid growing fears that ASF could breach the UK's borders from Europe and get into the wild boar population - with a consequent need to "wipe out" the Forest's boar population and the potential triggering of a nationwide cull of farmed pigs.