Nature reserve manager threatened over roaming pig row

A DERBYSHIRE Wildlife Trust manager was threatened with being shot during an argument about two pigs damaging a nature reserve.

Richard Spowage was threatened after coming face to face with a man who said he owned the animals, which had been set loose to graze at Hilton Gravel Pits.

The pigs which were found roaming in Hilton Gravel Pits nature reserve. The reserve's manager was threatened by a man claiming to be the pigs' owner.

Mr Spowage, the trust's reserves manager, said: "I was scared. I saw that the man was not carrying a gun but I still got out of there as quickly as I could and called the police."

The two black pigs were first spotted ploughing up rare lichen at the gravel pits by a trust volunteer on January 7. Mr Spowage went to the Sutton Lane site that day to put up signs asking whoever owned the pigs to remove them from the nature reserve.

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On January 9, he was approached by the man who was walking his dog.

Mr Spowage said: "He said the pigs were his. I said he needed to get them off the land but he just said, 'If you cause me any trouble, I will shoot you'."

The trust has now moved the pigs to a different site until the owner is properly identified or a home can be found for them.

Police are investigating the incident. The offender is white, in his mid-30s, with short, light-coloured hair and was unshaven.