Woman is mauled by 30-stone runaway pig
A 61-YEAR-OLD woman was mauled and badly injured by a 30-stone Gloucestershire Old Spot called Hammy as she attempted to shoo it away with a broom.
Maria Yates had her legs cut open by the “monstrous” pig after it escaped from its pen in Walsall, West Mids on Wednesday morning.
Mrs Yates, who demanded after the ordeal that the pig be killed or moved elsewhere, was rushed to hospital, with police arriving to find the animal ambling down a street of terraced houses.
Speaking from her hospital bed, Mrs Yates, who is a full-time carer for her elderly mother, described the incident as “terrifying”. “It broke from its pen, as it quite often does, and it was roaming around on the front lawn,” she said, recalling the moment that she was attacked.
“I’ve just been sick and tired of it getting out and causing havoc. I made the mistake of starting to shoo it away by brushing it away with a broom, but that got it even angrier.
“It attacked my legs, running at me and starting to bite me. I was trapped under its weight. It’s a huge animal and it was absolutely raging.
“The noise of it squealing was deafening. I thought I was going to die.
“I’ve had to have two surgeries and have been in hospital ever since.”
She added that the pig had first been bought by her neighbours three years ago, but had grown “far bigger than could have been anticipated” and was now “out of control”.
“Recently I contacted Defra, because I believed that there must be some sort of minimum distance that a pig has to be away from somebody that’s not its owner, but they told me that there wasn’t any legislation like that,” she added.
“I just want that thing dead or moved away, it’s not fair and it’s not right that it’s been doing this.”
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “Police received a call to a pig on the loose in Heathfield Lane, Darlaston at 9.26am on Wednesday.
“One police officer was at the scene and so were the ambulance service. A 61-year-old woman was treated for injuries to her leg from the pig, which was taken back to its pen at a home in the same road.”