A video of a large wild boar helping himself to a family’s picnic at a barbeque site in Aberdeen Reservoirs on Hong Kong Island on Sunday has gone viral.
The video clip was sent to Apple Daily and showed a big boar almost two meters long casually wandering around the barbeque area in Aberdeen Reservoirs while many families and domestic workers were having a day out.
One person who saw the encounter was having a barbecue with three friends when the big wild boar came close to them and crawled on to a nearby table and knocked all the food onto the ground.
After eating all of that family’s food, the boar moved to the next three tables and dined on steaks, cakes and sticky rice that had been laid out by a group of domestic workers.
The wild boar took his time and 30 minutes later finished his feast and then wandered back up the nearby hillside, presumably to have a sleep after his banquet.
Meanwhile, another encounter with wild pigs happened when a family was visiting their ancestors’ graves in Wo Hop Shek cemetery in Fanling in the New Territories on Sunday afternoon. They encountered two wild boars searching for food around the graves.
One family member brought some food, including a steamed chicken and fruit in a plastic bag. She was afraid the pigs would attack her and try to get the food. Two boars did approach her, but eventually walked away.
She later saw the two boars eating food left as offerings on other graves.
The Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation website says wild pigs are the largest native terrestrial mammal in Hong Kong. Adults can weigh up to 200 kilograms and grow to two meters long.
In general, wild pigs are secretive and wary of human contact. However, if provoked or threatened they can become aggressive and attack, particularly dominant males or sows with piglets.
The department advises the public not to feed wild pigs. There have been a few cases of wild boars attacking humans in Hong Kong recently.
In early October, three people were injured by a wild pig in Wong Tai Sin in Kowloon, while in July two people were injured by a wild pig near the University of Hong Kong on Hong Kong Island.
I still don’t blame wild boars . They are definitely being fed by humans and that’s the reason they don’t get scared from humans anymore. There I see a lot of wild boars at Tiu keng Leng area ,but they never bothered us .
I still don’t blame wild boars . They are definitely being fed by humans and that’s the reason they don’t get scared from humans anymore. There I see a lot of wild boars at Tiu keng Leng area ,but they never bothered us .