How dangerous are wild boars or feral hogs? (New York, dog, destructive)
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In Southern Arizona we have roving packs of javelina. Technically, they are members of the peccary family and not a type of wild boar, but they look like pigs. Their tusks can be very dangerous and they will attack to protect their young. The most common problem they cause where I live is going through people's garbage or trashing their yards. I know runners who have confronted them unexpectedly, but they all say they get some advance warning from their terrible smell. Almost any wild animal can be dangerous under the right conditions but I try to remember that humans have invaded their spaces more often than vice versa.
I was startled by a collared peccary, or javelina, in a woodsy park on the edge of Playa del Carmen, MX. It was foraging and gave no indication that it knew I was there. So I took a photo and we parted without incidence.
That sent me to Google and the information that javelinas are group animals and usually leave the group when ready to die. That may have been the reason for no territorial behavior. Or perhaps it was somewhat of a local "pet" and accustomed to humans.
At any rate it appeared like the kind of creature it would be best to leave alone.
I have not had much experience with wild hogs but as a kid I had extensive experience with Domestic Hogs. Up until the 1960s almost all farmers supplemented their income with Hogs, Chickens, Milk etc. It was very common for farmers or their family members to be killed by either cattle or Hogs. I raised Hogs as a kid and I had several close encounters with both cattle and Hogs. Many P.E.T.A people talk about he cruelty of using farrowing crates for pregnant sows. I would like to see a few dozen of those well intentioned idiots get into a small pen with a 700 pound Sow in the middle of the birthing process. The power of a large Sow or Boar is unreal.
Man, as kids/teens while on the family farm in Nebraska we raised hogs among other things and you quickly learned never to get between a sow and her litter, or an errant piglet- and we used to have to grab them for tagging, administering medicine or other reasons- you had to be quick to avoid the fury of the mom when she heard it start squealing and she swung around after you -and even they had pretty gnarly looking teeth. There was more than a few times that we barely flew over the pen fence just in time to escape serious injury.
As Gunluvver2 states above there a reasons for how pens are prepared for birthing and other functions. I'm sure both he and I can remember the many times we had to risk our lives to try to rescue an hours old piglet from becoming crushed by its massive mom while she is still in distress from the birthing process.
These were domesticated and typically pretty calm animals- I wouldn't ever get near an even larger, wilder, meaner and better equipped for damage versions.
"The pigs showed up faithfully, chowing down on the free food. That is, until the last piece of the corral-the gate that springs shut to trap the pigs-was added; then the adult pigs wouldn't venture inside. It's as if they knew it was a trap." Sounds like some of my feral cats!
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