Villagers have shared their fury at tourists who are harassing New Forest pigs by pestering the animals for selfies.
The over 600 pigs who roam freely in the New Forest National Park are being put at risk by visitors who ‘pin the animals against hedges’ and shove ‘cameras within three inches of their snouts’ in order to get the best possible picture of the animals.
New Forest animal safety campaigner Gilly Jones claimed in recent days she had witnessed a sow – a female pig – having a camera ‘shoved three inches from her snout’, children chasing piglets around a car park trying to grab them.
She said people are getting too close to the pigs just to take photos and videos.
The animal safety campaigner also claimed to have seen people leaping out of cars and chasing piglets down a ‘stupidly busy road.’
In another instance she claimed to have seen pigs ‘pinned against a hedge’ by a semi-circle of people who had decamped off a nearby coach.
She said: ‘My issue is the constant, and I mean constant, plaguing they are suffering by the “piggy tourists”.’
Ms Jones raised the concerns at the Verderers Court – a historic New Forest court which oversees the forest.
Piglets roaming in the New Forest National Park. An animals rights campaigned claims the animals are being chased down roads by visitors who ‘leap out of their cars’ to look at the pigs
The over 600 pigs who roam freely in the New Forest National Park are being put at risk by visitors who ‘pin the animals against hedges’ and shove ‘cameras within three inches of their snouts’
The pigs are currently in the Hampshire park as part of a as part a yearly ritual called ‘pannage’.
Pannage takes place every year so pigs can eat acorns and nuts which are poisonous to other grazing animals.
With the recent announcement that this year’s pannage season would be extended to January, Ms Jones warned the problem would go on unless addressed.
Ms Jones said businesses in the New Forest can help the pigs if they stop promoting pannage.
She said: ‘With pannage obviously extended, this isn’t going to stop unless we get out to venues and companies to stop advertising the pigs as a tourist day out.
‘Social media pages should not be posting pictures of the pigs – some do already do that – and when someone asks where are the piggies, we should all reply “Longdown Activity Farm”.’
The New Forest Commoners’ Defence Association chairman, Andrew Parry-Norton, has said that while it is a ‘unique’ sight to see the pigs wandering the Forest, they should be ‘admired from afar’.
But he said that people need to be ‘realistic’ because having the pigs is a big part of the New Forest and tourists will always want to come and see them.
New Forest animal safety campaigner Gilly Jones (pictured) said people are getting too close to the pigs just to take photos and videos
He said: ‘It is the same with all stock, people should not interact with them.
‘We have to be realistic, people are going to keep coming to the Forest, it is a National Park. You know, we say don’t touch them, don’t feed them, don’t pat them. Look at them and admire them. They are doing a really important job.
‘We get more and more people visiting. You know we have got three or four major cities around the New Forest. There are more and more people living in the area. Visitor numbers are going up every year.
‘We turn our animals out on the Forest, and that is something that we have always had issues with.’
According to the New Forest Code, people are not allowed to touch or feed the pigs.
Mr Parry-Norton did warn that that dogs need to be kept on leads when they are near the pigs because sows can act aggressively to protect their piglets. And that drivers needed to be aware and drive carefully to prevent the pigs from ‘darting underneath the bonnet’ of cars.
When asked about taking pictures of the pigs during pannage, he said: ‘Look, people are going to come and they are going to take pictures of the pigs, that is not illegal.
‘What we ask is that people stay well back. Use the zoom on your camera to get a closer shot. But please let the animals do their job and just stay well back and admire from afar.’
Mr Parry-Norton said he believes it is ‘not realistic’ to ask businesses not to promote the pannage season because it is such a ‘unique’ part of the New Forest that doesn’t happen anywhere else in the country.
He added that many businesses sell pannage pork and need to promote their own products.
He said it is important to ‘educate’ people and tell them that they ‘shouldn’t go near’ the pigs.
