A boar hunt was under way on Wednesday to round up scores of beasts set free by animal activists.

Wild boar were hunted to near extinction in the UK during medieval times - but 60 of the creatures on the loose from a farm are the target of hunters on quad bikes.

They are the remainder of a 100-strong, £300,000 herd which scampered to freedom on December 22 when a wire fence was cut at the Woodland Wild Boar Farm near South Molton, Devon.

Members of the Dulverton Farmers Hunt have been asked by boar farmer Alan Dedames to try to round up the escapees.

The hunters will comb local valleys using dogs, quad bikes and tempting food in an attempt to corral the animals.

So far around 40 of the animals have been recaptured - and of those still free, two have been spotted around 40 miles away near Plymouth.