WILD boar thought to be roaming Exmoor four years after a sabotage attack at a Mid Devon farm have been labelled by a Government department as one of the greatest threats to British wildlife.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has placed the animals on a list of 63 non-native species which should not be introduced into the wild due to the threat they pose to indigenous animals.

More than 100 boar were released in 2005 after Woodland Wild Boar Farm in West Anstey, owned by Al Dedames, was sabotaged by suspected animal rights activists.

The first wild boar hunt in 300 years failed to locate the animals, leaving them at large.

Mr Dedames said: "I don't see how this is going to help. I see this as too little, too late."

Campaigners have argued that boar should still live in the wild, some 700 years after they became extinct.

But now Defra has added the animals to the list, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, stating the animals had the "ability to cause damage to the environment, economy and public health."

Introduction of the animals carries a maximum punishment of two years in prison and a £5,000 fine. This would apply to anybody found guilty of the sabotage at Mr Dedames' farm.