"Wiltshire"

Page last revised:
27th September 2004

To aid you in your search for new reports, we've added a quick select menu below.

DATE: ANIMAL: LOCATION:
14th January 1998 THE TAMWORTH TWO Malmesbury
16th January 1998 THE TAMWORTH TWO Tetbury Hill
16th January 1998 THE TAMWORTH TWO Tetbury Hill
17th January 1998 THE TAMWORTH TWO Tetbury Hill
Not Known MAN CRIES WOLF Horningsham
29th July 2002 BOA CONSTRICTOR Woodfalls
1st March 2004 THE TAMWORTH TWO Chippenham
23rd May 2004 GREAT BUSTARDS Salisbury Plain
3rd August 2004 GREAT BUSTARDS Salisbury Plain

 

Horningsham
MAN CRIES WOLF
Man who cried wolf is breeder of the pack
By Sean O'Neill
SHAUN ELLIS'S nocturnal activities have been worrying the villagers of Horningsham and Corsley for some months. Mr Ellis is given to howling like a wolf. His elongated, blood-curdling wails are so lifelike that in his part of Wiltshire he is known as The Wolfman. The locals, and people further afield in the towns of Frome and Warminster, have been so concerned that they have been ringing Longleat Safari Park to reassure themselves that its pack of Canadian timber wolves is still locked up.

The wolves are indeed safe in their wooded compound on Lord Bath's estate, but Mr Ellis's chilling cries have been designed to make them feel insecure. By imitating the sound of a rival and possibly dangerous pack, Mr Ellis, 37,
has been trying to stimulate the Longleat pack of wolves to breed. He has been successful. Last month, three cubs were born, increasing the size of the pack from six to nine. The pack had been in trouble since Daisy, the senior or Alpha female, became ill during pregnancy last year. Her cubs were stillborn and she had to be spayed.

Because wolf packs are rigidly hierarchical and only the Alpha male and female breed, this rendered the pack infertile. In the wild, Daisy would have died and Fang, 14, the lead male, would have bred with the next female. But because Daisy, aged 15, was still alive, other methods had to be devised to persuade Fang to breed with Zeva, aged four, the second female in the pack.

Mr Ellis, a wolf expert, was asked to help and embarked on his programme of "howl-ins", augmented by playing recordings of wild wolf packs. Keith Harris, Longleat's head keeper, said: "Sean's task was to switch the two females around in the hierarchy of the pack. It was our first attempt at anything like this and it actually worked. He played tapes and he howled himself - he's very good at it, hence we call him Wolfman here. You can hear him from
quite a distance. "A wolf pack can be heard howling more than six miles away so he could be quite easily out of sight when he was howling. It's done at night when there are no cars and the sound carries better. We were careful that the pack was not under too much pressure but that it did feel there was a threat, that it had to increase its numbers to strengthen itself."

Zeva's cubs were born six weeks ago. They are said to be fit and well. Mr Ellis admitted that his night-time exercises had caused the odd alarm. He said: "One beautiful moonlit night there were a lot of fishermen out. I think
there was an angling match going on. When the calling started all we could see was all the anglers' lamps being picked up and hurrying towards the car park. We learned later that they thought the wolves had escaped."

Salisbury Plain
GREAT BUSTARDS
Great Bustards have not bred in England for more than 170 years, but a five year project is underway to re-introduce a breeding population to Salisbury Plain.As part of a project co-ordinated by the Great Bustard Group under licence from Defra, eggs collected in Russia have been hatched in incubators, and the birds are being carefully reared to keep their wild instincts, and be wary of potential predators – including humans. The chicks will be kept in pens on Salisbury Plain until they are about three months old, and then released into the wild.

The Great Bustard (Otis tarda) is the heaviest flying bird in the world. Males are as tall as adult roe deer, have a wingspan of up to 8 feet and can weigh over 50lb. They can run very fast, and look rather like eagles in flight.

They were widespread in England until the early nineteenth century, when the population declined due to hunting and changes in land use. There are a few records of vagrants from Europe visiting East Anglia and Kent during the twentieth century, but the last record of breeding in the UK was in Suffolk in 1832.

(Sources: Country Life Magazine 13th April 2004 - Daily Telegraph 23rd May 2004)

Contributed & Written by: Lisa Willow

File: 2003-99
Ref No: 1200

Update:
Bustards to be released in the UK
A plane has landed in Britain, from Russia containing nearly 30 Great Bustards. This rare bird has been extinct in Britain for about 130 years. The chicks' arrival is part of an ambitious project to reintroduce this bird to Britain. They were hatched from eggs rescued from farmland close to Saratov in Russia. The Great Bustard can weigh 20 kilograms and grow up to a meter tall. Patick Osborne, who is from Stirling University is one of the project leaders. He thinks that they know enough about these birds to give the project a try. The project is to boost Russia's Bustard population as well as reintroduce the birds to Britain. It has taken years of preparation.

The Bustards will spend one month in quarantine, before being moved to temporary holding pens. A few weeks later, the birds will be released on Salisbury Plain, where the birds used to roam. If it all goes to plan, then they may have more to follow, eventually hoping that they will breed in a few years time.

(Source: RFE/RL, 3rd August 2004)

Written by: Karen Allison

File: 2003-99
Ref No: 1498

Woodfalls
BOA CONSTRICTOR
4ft Boa found in a Wiltshire woodland
Police are appealing for the owner of a 4ft Boa Constrictor which was found in woodlands, near Woodfalls in Wiltshire, to come forward, it was reported to be in good health.

29th July 2002,

Contributed by: Mark Fraser
Scottish Big Cats.
www.scottishbigcats.org

Malmesbury
"The Tamworth Two"
"Butch & the Sundance Pig"
In the following below you'll find a collection of reports which involves two pigs that escaped their executioner from an abattoir and became a legend to the media for their antics, during a long spell on the run around the countryside and the surrounding rural areas of Wiltshire.

Swimming boars save their bacon
By;
Sean O'Neill
Two pigs have now been living free for a period of six days since their escape from an abattoir when they swam across a river to their freedom.

The two Tamworth Ginger Boars at the age of five months old managed to squeeze through a hole in the fence of the Malmesbury Slaughter house in Wiltshire swimming across the River Avon and disappeared into some gardens. Mr Jeremy Newman, the owner of the abattoir said "They were wild, we just couldn't get hold of them, but we were pretty surprised to see them swimming the river.

"They have done pretty well to stay on the run for so long. I think the owner had so much trouble getting them into his lorry that he doesn't hold out much hope of recapturing them."

The two escapees have been sighted by several residence in the area, but are relentless to their capture. One witness Harry Clarke found evidence of their presence in his vegetable patch before he saw them "They were a lovely ginger colour and vanished very quickly and stealthily in the undergrowth" said Mr Clark. "The Police called the owner but they had vanished when he arrived. Later that night I was pottering about the bonfire and they trotted out two see me again and came quite close. By then it was to dark to try to catch them."

Andrew Hazelhurst, another witness who resides near to the abattoir found himself being dragged along the pavement by his Boarder Terrier Pup which gave chase to the two fugitives. Julie his wife said "Andrew had ben taking Hamish for a quick walk. He rushed back in saying he had spotted a couple of pink pigs. We just laughed and said he'd be seeing pink elephants next. But now it seems he was telling the truth."

Anrnoldo Dijulio, the chap who reared the animals which was worth £40 each said he still intended to sell them to the abattoir on their recapture.

(Source, UK News - Electronic Telegraph)
Wednesday 14th January 1998

 

Pig knocks the stuffing out of police
By;
Sean O'Neill
One of the country's most celebrative fugitives "a pig" literally running for his life eluded the police as they tried to corner the swine in someone's back garden last night.

A second pig which had escaped from the same abattoir a week earlier, had been caught following an intense search led by the worlds media. The net closed in on the fugitives after their eighth day on the run. the first of the escapees was returned to their owner Anrnoldo Dijulio, who worked for the district council, he originally reared the pigs in his back garden. The capture was assisted by a national newspaper and is thought to have offered a sum far greater than their original value, for exclusive rights to the story.

Suddenly there were droves of reporters and photographers, scouring the countryside in the hunt for the second fugitive. there were TV cameras even in helicopters, it was eventually found when 61 yr old Harry Clarke saw the animal in their garden and called the police. As the police moved in the pig tried to escape along the side of the house heading for the road, but was startled by the flashes from cameras there. A police Spokesman said "At around 7:15pm an attempt was made to capture the cornered pig but due to the large number of people around the place it was spooked and darted into the undergrowth. it is still contained and the RSPCA are waiting for it to calm enough to be caught."

An animal Sanctuary Worker Debbie Stinchcombe who was one of the persons called upon to help in the animal capture said "The animal was frightened and broke through the fence at the bottom of Mr & Mrs Clarke's garden and has disappeared into the thick woods behind. It knows it is safe in there. We have left food out for it and will reassess the situation in the morning."

Phil Bussey of the RSPCA said "This pig has proved more elusive than Houdini. It seems like we have been tracking it forever. It ran rings around us all night in Mr Clarke's garden. Finally the Clarke's asked everyone to leave because their lawn and shrubs were getting wrecked."

The Tamworth Boars not even six months old and whose outlaw status had earned them many nicknames, among which were Butch and Sundance, had been spending the most of their time in an impenetrable thicket near Tetbury Hill. The more they evaded capture the more their celebrity status grew. all manner of people and organisations from: Television networks and Tabloid Newspapers, to Animal lovers and Vegetarians fought to save the pigs bacon and offering them a home.

A pig breeder Dave Lang even took his 60lb stone Tamworth Sow to the thicket in an attempt to entice the young boars out.

(Source, UK News - Electronic Telegraph)
Friday 16th January 1998

Cut out for Rashers not Romance
By;
David Brown, Agriculture Editor
The Public were urged yesterday "forget any romantic notions of saving the Tamworth Two from their demise by adopting them as pets"

Tamworth's Pigs are one of Britain's oldest surviving native breeds: with only 306 registered breeding sows and 77 boars out of a total swine population of 7.5 million. Commercial farmers and also agricultural conservationists have maintained that the best result was a humane death and transformation into pork chops.

These ginger-coloured Tamworth's, also known as Old English Forest Pigs, have long hard snouts which they used fro rooting and foraging the ground for food. And whilst the Sows can be very docile, the Boars are extremely active, making them very difficult to contain.

The two Pigs that escaped the clutches of the abattoir are quite young - as a matter of fact, they're less than 6 months old, but weigh in around 110 lbs. A fully grown Tamworth would probably tip the scales at around 500 lbs or more and have a very large appetite.

It was suggested last night that the two animals were probably crossed with "Wild Boar" to flavour their meat. Farming "Wild Boar" is becoming a thriving niche business, and there could be several hundred of them roaming the forests of etc of the UK especially Sussex.

The Rare Breeds Survival Trust Said: " The sad fact is that in any breed you need far fewer Boars, than Sows, and these Boars are reared for meat and slaughter. We actually advise as many farmers as we can to establish commercial markets for Tamworth meat to encourage more people to keep them. Ensuring a commercial outlet for livestock, is a proven method of consevation, but the public can find that very hard to understand."

He said: "It must be remembered that Pigs have no other function other than being fattened for meat. You can't shear them for wool or draw milk from them."

An owner of a Berkswell herd of Tamworth's at Boyton Farms, Warminster, Wiltshire, said: "We keep Tamworth's here and all I can say is they're marvelous farm animals. But we keep then as farm animals, not pets."

And Grenville Welsh, the Chief Executive of the "British Pig Association" said: "We have heard a lot of stories of people wanting to give these Pigs a home. The one thing they should be quite clear about is that Pigs in general do not make good domestic pets, and Tamworth's most certain do not. there was fashion some years ago for keeping pet Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, but this proved to be misguided, and people soon discovered that it was better to get rid of them. We have also heard that these runaway 'Tamworth's' may be the offspring of Pigs with "Wild Boar blood in them. 'Tamworth's' are very spirited Pigs, even without "Wild Boar" blood."

(Source, UK News - Electronic Telegraph)
Friday 16th January 1998

Dart stops Sundance Pig in his tracks
By:
Sean O'Neill
The Tamworth Ginger Boar that has been evading capture for weeks, was recaptured yesterday when it had been shot with a tranquillizer dart.

Sundance, the male Pig nicknamed after the infamous outlaw, had been shot as it evaded two dogs, and breaking through a cordon that surrounded it's hiding place through it's final dash for freedom.

At only five months of age, he was finally flushed out by dogs, the first two darts had bounce back off from Sundance's hide, but the third managed to penetrate the thick skin, eventually slowing him enough for the vetenary surgeon to put a noose around his snout, to prevent him from biting.

Transported in a van marked "Quality Meats" to the vets surgery. A spokesman said later that he may need a couple of days to recover properly, what with the effects from the drug, as well as him being quite tired out from the ordeal, before he can be reunited once again with his fellow fugitive Sow, who'd also been named by the general public as Butch, and had been recaptured on Thursday.

The Two beasts with a value of £50 each when they first escaped from Newman's slaughter house, in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, have now been bought for thousands of pounds by the Daily Mail, who insists on exclusive rights to the story.

American news network camera crews were there among the ranks of the media, watching Sundance's final moments of freedom. The planned operation to capture Sundance had failed amid farcical scenes that Thursday evening, but was soon brought to an abrupt end, with to arrival of RSPCA inspector Mike Harley, and his tranquilliser gun, with darts at the ready he ventured into the woods besides the "Malmesbury Tennis Club" on Tetbury Hill, accompanied by vetanary surgeon "Francis Baird" and three police officers to hunt for the elusive porker.

A couple of fruitless hours later, Mike Riggs with a Lurcher named "Barney" and Paul Dowdeswell with his Springer Spaniel, "Pepsi" were called upon to flush the Pig out. Approx some 45 mins later the Boar made a bolt for it through the lines of it's would be captors, with "Pepsi" in close pursuit into a copse behind the Dyson vacuum cleaner factory.

As the undergrowth began to thin, and Mike Harley was able to get a clear shot, he was brought to a standstill with the third dart, "It had a very, very thck skin, but the third dart worked," said Mr Harley "It went down, but wasn't injured at all. The vet has injected a reversing agent to counteract the tranquilliser and the Pig is up on its feet again. It's quite healthy, apart from the stress of being chased."

Mr Harley said he'd been staggered by the medias interest. "Animals run away all the time, steers are sometimes on the loose for months before they're caught."

Both fugitive will be reunited at an animal sancuary near, Chippenham, in Wiltshire, and will not now be slaghtered.

(Source, UK News - Electronic Telegraph)
Saturday 17th January 1998


Butch and the Sundance Pig ***Film Stars***
“The Tamworth Two” is a tale of two Tamworth Ginger pigs who evaded the slaughterhouse by slipping away from the farm and going ‘on the run’ for a month. The five-month old pair – a sow and a boar belong to a breed that is known to be Britain’s oldest surviving pig species. Boars are re-known for their tendency to be difficult, to keep in confinement and are very active.
The two who have been named Butch and Sundance after the two outlaws were cross-bred from wild boars to improve the quality of their meat. They were also said to have been very intelligent. They escaped through a fence, crossed the river Avon and bolted into a nearby garden and into thicket, here they eluded everyone. They were darted after being flushed out with dogs and ended up being cared for by the South of England Rare Breeds Centre thus eluding the slaughterhouse once again. A film is to be made about their adventures by the BBC at a cost of £2 million pounds, and will be shown on TV later.

1st March 2004
(Source: The Guardian)

File: 1998-85
Ref No: 1073

"More to follow, as reports are collected"

N.B. We at Beastwatch UK pride ourselves for trying to write only truthful accounts of all events recorded here, if you know of any reports within these pages to be incorrectely presented then please accept our appologies and contact us immediately letting us know the true facts behind the report, as it is not our intention to write any untruths here.

If you have any further information on any of these, or any other reports for this or other areas, then please let us know

Thank you

Chris Mullins

Co-ordinator
BEASTWATCH UK
info@beastwatch.co.uk