Wild boars that can grow to the size of a “small car” are now roaming within a mile of Inverness as their population in the Scottish Highlands grows.
Residents have warned the animals are “out of control” and could kill or badly injure anyone unlucky enough to cross their path.
The beasts usually roam freely in the Great Glen, which stretches for 62 miles between Inverness and Fort William, but are now said to be advancing on the city.
They have been spotted near Torvean, just a mile from the centre of Inverness, while staff at the city’s Kings Golf Club have been working to divert them away from the location. However, the “secretive” animals can be hard to track.
Robert Sanderson, a local gamekeeper, claimed to have seen a pig that was around 37 stone and warned their population was becoming “unmanageable”.
He added: “I have had reports of evidence of them at Dochfour and at least three wild boar in Torvean Quarry.
“Because they are quite secretive animals, it is really important to see the evidence. They are up at Contin and Alness and they are all the way down the Dores side of Loch Ness. They will go everywhere and anywhere with tree coverage and fresh vegetation.
“There has been some success in controlling the boar with deer fencing. But on the whole, the boar can destroy land very quickly.”
‘The real Loch Ness monsters’
Catherine Mclennan, 53, who farms 100 acres of land on the banks of Loch Ness near Drumnadrochit, said: “I came into contact with the wild boar one night when I went into a wooded area on my land. There were dozens of them…
“I took off at the rate of knots. There have been people coming across the wild boar and being chased by them. Someone will get killed or badly hurt.
“These wild boar are the real Loch Ness monsters, some are the size of a small car.”
Residents claim there is an army of around 5,000 feral hogs following interbreeding with domestic pigs. It comes after farmers warned in 2022 that boar in groups of more than two dozen were targeting their sheep.
Wild boar can interbreed with domestic pigs, and authorities believe many illegally released pigs in Scotland are hybrids between wild boar and domestic pigs or other breeds of hairy pig.
A spokesman for NatureScot, the government nature agency, said: “In recent decades, breeding populations of non-native feral pigs have become established in Scotland as a result of escapes or illegal releases.
“In Scotland, there are at least four separate breeding populations of feral pigs, located in Lochaber, Dumfries and Galloway, and Ross-shire. We estimate the total population in Scotland may have reached the low thousands.
“In Scotland, the primary responsibility for controlling feral pigs lies with individual land managers.” He added they were not a protected species and guidance was available for how to deal with them “safely and humanely.”
Highland council declined to comment.
