SCIENTISTS have been accused of putting livestock at risk from an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease after exclusive pictures show a wild boar being fed meat as part of a research project.

The shadow of the 2001 epidemic could loom again after an adult pig was caught on camera taking offal from a metal feeder at an unknown location in the Forest.

Boar expert Dr Martin Goulding has warned it could lead to a new outbreak of disease. He said it could also turn the boar against other animals.

He said: "The disease implications are frightening and it risks turning an animal which is primarily vegetarian onto meat as a food source with implications for livestock kills – boar are not normally interested in livestock but they sometimes will scavenge dead animals and road kill."

The metal feeder containing offal is being used as part of a £1 million study by the Food and Environment Research Agency to find out more about the Forest's wild boar population. Normally baited with maize, the 'boar operated systems' have been specially designed so only that specific animal can use them and have been used in trials to feed them the contraceptive pill.

Farmer and Lydney town councillor Bill Osborne was badly affected during the 2001 Foot and Mouth epidemic. He said he had been told by government agency Animal Health's Gloucester office that feeding meat to pigs and farm animals was generally illegal and could put the Forest's livestock under threat.

"It is against the law for farmers to feed meat to their livestock," said Bill, "and I don't think there should be one law for Defra and one for everyone else. This needs to be taken further and questions need to be asked."

A spokesman from the Pig Veterinary Society said feeding meat or meat products to pigs could cause a real threat of Foot and Mouth disease.

He said: "The principle of feeding meat or meat products to pigs is 100% discouraged. Diseases like Foot and Mouth can live in meat for years, so feeding it to pigs and other livestock could pose a tremendous risk of a further outbreak."

He added that Defra could have been operating under a government licence for their research.

A spokeswoman for Defra said: "A wild boar fertility control project is currently under way studying possible ways of using effective and humane methods to resolve conflicts between wildlife and people. Biosecurity and public safety are taken very seriously and we believe that they were not compromised during the research. The meat is being used as part of the study."

The pictures have emerged after a CD was posted through the letter box of a local sheep badger.

The study is being carried out with the permission of the Forestry Commission.