Control of Hong Kong boar population urged after man savaged

Apr 8, 2009, 5:18 GMT

   Hong Kong - A 77-year-old Hong Kong man was savaged by a wild boar that pinned him to the ground and bit his groin, police said Wednesday.

   The 70-kilogram animal went on a rampage, knocking the man down and sinking its teeth into him, after it strayed into a village in Hong Kong's New Territories.

   Witnesses said the boar attacked Tuesday after it jumped a fence and charged at the man who was playing cards with friends outside.

   The animal then ran off. The man was taken to hospital bleeding and was in stable condition Wednesday.

   The attack is the latest in a series involving wild boars, which have lead to calls on the government to control the population, which is believed to have grown in recent years in Hong Kong's rural areas, which cover more than 70 per cent of the territory's 1,078 square kilometres.

   Wild boars are common in rural parts of Hong Kong near its border with mainland China but are rarely seen in built-up urban parts of the city. But in February, police shot dead a wild boar when it strayed into a high-rise housing estate in the city's built-up Tuen Mun district.

   In September, a 120-kilogram boar was also shot dead by police after it fought with pet dogs and bit two residents in a rural village near the Hong Kong-China border.