A HUNGRY pig that tried to steal a lunch from a meals on wheels worker has played a part in a massive increase in fines for people who feed the animals of the New Forest.

The fines have suddenly shot up from £10 to £200 in a major shake-up of the New Forest verderers' bylaws in an effort to get the animals out of the habit of pestering people for food.

And one of the incidents verderers considered involved a pig at Bramshaw which had regularly been given little treats by children on their way to catch a bus to school.

"It was a friendly pig and had got in the habit of being given food by people. But the problem arose when it saw a lady delivering a meal to a house in the Bramshaw area and tried to help itself," said verderers' clerk Sue Westwood.

She explained that the incident underlined problems which could occur when animals got used to expecting food from people.

There have been other incidents of ponies invading people's picnics and trying to take food.

Hand feeding has always been an offence, but the fine has previously been £10 - which was considered by many not to be worth the bother of taking people to court.

Now the maximum is £200, Miss Westwood said action is more likely to be taken.

People who dump such things as lawn trimmings and unwanted apples on the Forest are also liable to even heavier fines. It comes under a Forestry Commission bylaw covering the leaving of "litter, rubbish, filth or refuse of any kind" and carries a maximum penalty of £500.

The bylaws have also been tightened to prevent the owners of the Forest's ponies, cattle, pigs and sheep from neglecting their animals.

They were previously liable to action if they had ignored warnings by the agisters, who work for the verderers, to take sick or lame animals off the Forest. But the bylaws will now apply if they "know or have reason to believe an animal is in such a condition that is likely to cause it unnecessary suffering."

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