Perhilitan: Trapping wild boar will endanger life

PARIT BUNTAR: The Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia (Perhilitan) is advising people not to take matters into their own hands by setting traps to solve their wild boar problem.

“I hope people don’t set traps, but make a report to Perhilitan instead for further action because I worry for their safety.

“If the wild boar suffers injury because of the trap, it can become aggressive,” said Perhilitan Perak director, Yusoff Shariff, when contacted yesterday.

He said following complaints, Perhilitan culled 874 wild boars last year and 521 in 2019.

On Monday (Jan 26), a farmer from Kampung Batu 10 in Tanjung Piandang was a acked by a wild boar (suspected to have been injured because of a trap) as he was heading home on his motorcycle around 11am.

Mohd Ramli Putih, 49, told reporters a er a visit by Bersatu Parit Buntar division head, Md Nayan Salleh, today that the animal, which had rope tied to its leg, came from the direction of a rice field and rammed into his motorcycle.

“I fell with my motorcycle, and when I tried to get up, the wild boar a acked me again from the back and I fell once more.

“Ignoring the pain, I got up and kicked it as it tried to charge me again. It fell in the drain,” he said before describing how he managed to reach his house 300m away to grab a piece of steel to kill the animal so that it would not endanger anyone else.

Mohd Ramli said the wild boar gored his arm and right shoulder, and that he is traumatised and unable to do heavy work.

In response to the incident, Yusoff also reminded the public to dispose garbage and food waste properly, and to keep the thicket trimmed, because “wild boar can even breed in a small bushy area”.