WILD BOAR’S ATTACK

Taranaki Daily News, 25 January 1930, Page 11

WILD BOAR’S ATTACK

HUNTER CLIMBS A TREE. SHIP'S OFFICER’S THRILL. Sydney, Jan. 16.. Officers of the . steamer Mildura, which was recently at Rockhhampton (Queensland), are not likely to forget an ad-, venturous week-end spent in wild pig hunting on the Fitzroy River. One mhn was “treed” by a wild boar, two dogs were disembowelled by infuriated -wild pigs,, and the party encountered a 15ft crocodile. The chief engineer, .Mr.- Brooks, the second engineer, Mr. ; Dobbs’, the third engineer, Mr. Campbell, and Mr. Jim Fraser, motored to Brown’s Crossing, where they were joined; by Mr. Hanson, juh., a son of the light-keeper. Opposite the crossing they sayr .a 15ft crocodile lying on the bank, It .glided silently into the water, leaving nothing but a ripple, and was seen ( np more. The party camped near the mangroves until dayjight. They .had been scouting only 40 minutes, when they encountered a herd of 120 wild pigs,- and shot eight of them. Of the three dogs that : had been taken by the party, two 'were ■. killed by the pigs, which attacked the dogs and disembowelled them with their tusks. Some of the pigs, Mr. Brooks said, stood almost 4ft high. When-cornered they bit and barked like a dog.. • I • Mr. Brooks told how,.he was treed by a wild boar. “I tried hard to head the mob off the mangroves,” he said. “All the pigs went past me, except one big boar. As soon as he saw me he charged. I ducked, and managed to get to a tree, which I climbed. I had, of course, to leave my gun at. the foot of the tree. The boar had mo stuck in that tree for about half an hour. He left when the rest party came (iO.f -ill-G . O; >’