http://news.yahoo.com/hogs-goi...pital-062655898.html


Hogs going wild in Pakistani capital
By CHRIS BRUMMITT | Associated Press – 14 hrs ago...


ISLAMABAD (AP) — With a police officer wounded and the presidential palace breached, the Pakistani capital has launched a fresh offensive against a uniquely feared enemy in the Muslim country — the city's ever expanding population of wild boar.

Each night, packs of the hairy beasts emerge from Islamabad's river beds, parks and scrubland to rifle through the overflowing rubbish bins of its mostly wealthy residents and growing number of restaurants.

City authorities are laying poison and have announced free hunting permits to cull the wild pigs' numbers. But to make sure residents don't get caught in the crossfire, they only allow shotguns. There have been few takers. Hunters are wary of getting arrested by the police, or even worse — getting mistaken for a terrorist.

The animals can weigh up to 180 to 220 pounds (80 kilograms to 100 kilograms) and have razor sharp teeth. Adult males come armed with upward curving tusks. While they scurry off at the site of humans, they charge when cornered, alarmed or wounded and are a major cause of traffic accidents in the city.

The latest chapter of man versus hog played out in a city center police station last week.

"Someone shouted 'watch your back' but before I could look round the animal had hit me," said Sajjad Hussain, who was on duty when the animal slipped in past the high, razor wire-topped blast walls after guards opened the gates to let in a car.

Hussain had a gash in his stomach that required eight stitches and is on medical leave.

The swine was even more unlucky. In his rush to escape, he bounded into a large pit where police barracks are being constructed. Trapped by high walls, he was an easy target for officers out to avenge their wounded colleague. Not quite fish in a barrel, but close.

"The pig was like a terrorist. We shot him down," said station chief Fayaz Tanooli. "I have told the guards if another pig gets in then they will be dismissed."

The hogs have also encroached upon the lavish, not to mention tightly guarded, houses of the president and prime minister.

A team has been dispatched to lay poison mixed with molasses or maize, said Malik Aulya Khan, the city's environmental chief.

"We are making special efforts. We have killed many with poison," he said. "Somehow they enter under the fences."

Wild boars are found all over Pakistan, and are one of its major agricultural pests, gobbling their way though millions of dollars of wheat and sugarcane crops. In Punjab province in the 1980s, the government initiated a bounty system whereby villagers were paid for each tail they delivered, but it was discontinued for lack of funds.

Islamabad was built from scratch in 1951 on scrubland that runs up against the Margalla Hills, meaning wild boars have always lived in or close to the city. But their numbers have grown along with the city and its human inhabitants, now around 800,000 from just 100,000 originally.

The meat of wild boar is prized in many countries, but has no value in Pakistan because its consumption is forbidden under Islam. The country's often persecuted and tiny Christian and Hindu populations don't keep pigs or eat wild boar either. That has helped ensure the animals thrive.

The animal's abundance has made the country a prime spot for boar hunting, said Qaiser Khan, who leads hunting parties to Pakistan, including teams of foreigners who like to shoot hogs. He said that teams must sign a contract stipulating they will not cook the meat or ask staff to so.

He said hunting in Islamabad was unlikely to get many takers because it was not "worth the hassle" of coordinating with police and city authorities. Moreover, shooting hogs with a shotgun was dangerous because the hunter had to be up close, and the weapon risked wounding, but not killing, the animal, he said.

Professor Rashid Ahmad Khan trapped and killed more than 1,700 pigs during three years of research into the problem in the 1980s.

He said that poisoning and hunting were both unsuitable methods of controlling the population, and instead advocates removing their habitat. Cutting down brush in which they hide during the day, fencing off the many streams that crisscross the city and better management of the trash that spills out of rubbish bins and around the back of restaurants in the city will help reduce their numbers.

"If we are not doing this, it will be impossible to weed out the animals," he said. "They are flourishing."

Wildboar have increased a lot in India as well despite increase of the population. I think one of the reasons is also the increase of agricultural crops all the year around so lots of food for them to eat.

pakistan and indian are both going to stay in the dark ages untill people over there start fighting back

no one eats the boar meat because of religion, the small christan/other population wont keep boars because of persecution and to top it all off you cant cook the meat or ask the camp staff to.

even if boar hunting was free i wouldnt ever go to pakistan with there current rules and regs heck they still hunt witches and burn them there. also who would want to hunt hogs over there with just a shot gun and also have the chance of being though of as a terrorist and getting shot sounds like a fuckin awsome place to visit. you have thousands of starving people over there hundreds of thousands and they have a ample food source but wont eat it becaue islam tells them not to lol ahahaha good they can all fuckin starve to death and leave more land and food for the rest of us.

700 nitro

Why do you have to spew insults and abuse an entire country and its people? Does it make you feel very macho or some thing?

Seeing your hateful prjudices, I wonder what kind of human being you are compared to the people you are trying to judge!

lol no insults were even made in the post. only a opinion.
lets face it they have shit loads of food to eat but wont eat it because islam tells them not to ahahaha thats awsome the ignorant leading the ignorant and thats why they are still living in the dark ages at one time the arabic/muslim countrys were the most advanced on earth and because of religion there now the least developed i know religion can be a stick topic but please leave emotion out of it and comment using logical thought thank you. this artical btw has been around for quit some time i just point out the stuff other arnt willing to say because of polictal correctness iv been to india and to see varenassie and the river ganges and to see the sadus very beautful country with a anchient peoples but it is a third world country that still burns witches and belives in black magic and most of the country about 90% live in poverty yet there one of the oldest countries on earth but also one of the most religouse. tech if there older they should be more developed.

heck its not untill recently woman could even attend collage or most schools past elementry in most of the countrys were talking about and there forced to walk around with the bodies completly covered with nothing exposed but there eyes thats awsome they effectively eliminated 50% of there work force and people able to learn a higher education to move the country forward. just remeber they dont want education because onece the people learn and become smarter they wont stand for the current bull shit and will revolt agaisnt them.

Pig's on the loose in Pakistan...must be a Zionist conspiracy