INVERNESS, Scotland, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Boris, a male wild boar, will lead a team of eight sows and 40 young ones, into Scotland's Highlands under a program to resurrect their habitat.
The new team will form the "ground disturbance force," 300 years after the wild boars were hunted to extinction in Scotland, the Independent newspaper reported. These boars are to be used for a tree conservation effort.
Boris and his family have been farm-reared and are not aggressive to humans, the report said. They will be allowed to roam ear Inverness in an attempt to restore part of the ancient Caledonian pine forest.
The pilot project aims to achieve natural regeneration of the landscape as the boars reduce the dominance of choking bracken, churn up the soil and provide a fertile seed bed for pine, rowan and birch trees, the report said.
"Wild boar are a natural component of European forests," the project's leader said. "Their unique rooting and scarifying behavior break through ground vegetation to create seed beds for the regeneration of trees and other woodland plants."
