Invading pigs have residents at end of tether
WHEN invaders hog everything in sight and leave a trail of destruction, it’s enough to have any neighbourhood squealing.
Seven pigs have been raiding the streets of Vanes Estate in Uitenhage for almost a month, leaving disgruntled residents to clean up their mess.
The pigs – two piglets and five adults – spend their days wandering the streets, chewing anything they can find, particularly on Mondays when they feast on the week’s scraps prior to refuse collection.
According to Garden Town Initiative chairman Dave McCleland, residents have laid several complaints with the Nelson Mandela Bay stray animals department but to no avail.
“Just about every day of our holiday we have been bugged with pigs roaming through our gardens and eating up our plants and when we phone the metro stray animal department they acknowledge our calls, but that’s where it stops.
“Monday mornings is a nightmare. By the time the garbage lorry arrives, the bags have been ripped open and rubbish is strewn far and wide,” McCleland said.
Vanes Estate resident Lauren Houston said the pigs were such a regular sight in the area her five-year old daughter, Laila, had already named them.
“It is ridiculous that the pigs are allowed to roam freely through what is supposed to be an upmarket suburb in Uitenhage.
“I understand there are neighbouring farms on the outskirts of Vanes, but no farmer has claimed these pigs – nobody knows who they belong to,” Houston said.
“We are accustomed to seeing cows. But they do little besides eat the grass.
“But pigs eat and destroy whatever they can find.”
Municipal spokesman Mthubanzi Mniki said the matter would be investigated and the municipality would try to find a solution.