Wild boar on way out?

Press, 9 August 1985, Page 24

Wild boar on way out?

NZPA-Reuter Jakarta The wild babirusa boar, which eats like a sheep, runs like a deer and can also swim, appears to be on the verge of extinction, the official Antara news agency said today. The head of Nature conservation and wildlife management, Sutarto Kadilah, told Antara that a team of zoologists assisted by local authorities in Sulawesi were unable to find traces of the

Indonesian boar in the huge island’s deep rain forests. Mr Kadilah said there had been concern since the 1970 s about the endangered species, which used to roam freely in large numbers in Sulawesi, formerly Celebes. Tribesmen in and around the rain forests were still apparently hunting the beast in spite of a protective order from the Indonesian Government, he said. Some tribes still believed 'the tusk of the babirusa

possessed special magic powers.

A report in a United States “Agency for International Development" publication last year said the babirusa might be a kosher pig whose meat could be eaten by Jews and Muslims.

The American researchers’ argument hinges on the babirusa’s two stomachs and the fact that, unlike the pig, it chews the cutP-Jike a cow.