Firstly it needs to be proven that my pigs are first generation hybrids I can not conform that they are I was not present when the sown was served. How do I know they were served by a wild boar ?
Secondly the boar in the FoD are all ready Hybrid animals they are more akin to Iron age pigs i.e a Tamworth cross. In order for my animals to be classed as first generation Hybrid that fact must be proven you can not just say we think they are so they are. My pigs look nothing like wild boar the snout length is the same as the sow as are the colouration etc.
Again it comes down to proof and that must be done by the Local council to prove my animals are first generation hybrid its not down to me to prove they are not. I very much doubt a DNA test would show they are first generation any thing !
I nor the council can place or remove an animal from dangerous animal list without proof of what that animal is.
I am not an ecologist how ever the ecologist I have spoken to concur with what I have written.
As I mentioned, your animals could fall under the DWA if they OR THEIR PARENT (capitals for emphasis, not shouting) was a first generation hybrid. That is what the legislation appears to say.
You appear to accept that the FoD boar are potentially such hybrids. Harmony makes the valid point that if one of them isn't the father, who is? Just because they have their mum's snout and colour doesn't tell you what their father was or wasn't.
You are right that it comes down to the way in which questions like this are resolved and the DWA doesn't contain (that I could see) definitive wording of how the status of unknown hybrids must be established. You seem to believe that the council "need proof". Where is your evidence for that? Just because you want it to be the case doesn't mean that it is.
The Act does give local authorities all the powers it confers. So unless there is written guidance or long established practice for local authorities to follow it is arguable that it would be up to them to make a determination. That may or may not require any "evidence" such as DNA tests. It might be sufficient for them to use a "on the balance of probabilities" type approach, as civil law cases do.
If you analyse your situation:
- An unknown boar served your pigs
- There are wild boar / hybrids, of which could be first generation hybrids in the woods adjacent to your pigs and on the other side of the fence that was breached when the boar entered
- There are no other local pigs that could be the culprit (I presume as you haven't mentioned any)
It would seem entirely reasonable for the council to determine, on the balance of probabilities, that one of the wild animals was the father, and if the opinion they get from people that know that herd is that a decent proportion of the males are first generation hybrids, then it would also seem entirely reasonable for them to determine that your animals fall under the Act.
Now of course you could challenge that legally, although there may already be some case law that sets a precedent for the process to follow or outcome. But doing so, as has already been stated by several others, will get very, very expensive very quickly.
Your best approach is to try and de-escalate the situation. The pigs only became an issue after they bit the footpath officer who was only there because of the work you had done. Try and resolve the original issue, build some bridges with them and you may be able to talk this down.
You seem to be holding on to the belief that you are in the right and your pigs cannot fall under the DWA. If you really want to try and fix the problems you are facing then you have to take a broader view and understand that your belief isn't shared by those that hold the legal powers here.