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@animallover1673353899 · 06 May 2021

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Horror in Eper Forest: Hiker Attacked by Wild Boar

The fright of his life and a severely bleeding, deep wound in his leg. That got a hiker from Epe Saturday night when he was attacked by a wild boar at Landgoed Tongeren. According to ranger Arjan Gerrits, the forests are still safe and the attack is a 'unique incident'.

Olger Koopman 03-05-21, 17:00 Last update: 03-05-21, 17:50
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It is a picture that would not look out of place on a postcard, the winding path at Landgoed Tongeren. Especially when a few bright rays of sunshine between the still virgin foliage through awls. At first sight nothing reminds of the horrific minutes the hiker had to endure near this beautiful spot Saturday night.


To do this, you have to go down the path, the “wilderness” in. In the shadow of a most-beech, there is blood on the canopy, on branches and on twigs. Lots of blood.

Death-strife
What exactly happened here is not yet quite clear: the victim, a middle-aged man living near Tongeren, is in the hospital and is not accessible for questions from the Stentor. But the fact is, there he waged a death battle with a wild boar washed out of the clods.

The beast put his firm fangs in the man's leg, which resulted in a deep flesh wound. To emergency workers the man would have said that he tried to repel the animal with his hands and feet and that he only succeeded when he gave the boar a punch in his eye. Then the animal fled into the forest.

Ranger Arjan Gerrits on the spot where the man was attacked Saturday night.
Ranger Arjan Gerrits on the spot where the man was attacked Saturday night. © Olger Koopman
Deep wound
Heavy bleeding, the man then managed to drag himself to the main path and use his mobile to call emergency services. He was then taken to the hospital by ambulance. , “Given the nature of his injuries - possibly there are also muscles affected - it must have been almost a keiler, a male”, judges the ranger of the area, Arjen Gerrits.

Never aggressive
The ranger is quite impressed by the event, which, according to him, is “unique”. ,, I have never experienced a walker 'just' being attacked by a wild boar. It is if there are dogs running loose, for example, that hunt down the boars. Or after a collision with a car, if such an animal is in a panic. The natural behavior of a boar is fleeing. Attacking only does it when there's no other way. I've been a ranger here for seven years, but I haven't seen anything like this.. Not even, although we foresters often come into contact with boars. At most, they growl once, but aggressively? never.”

Guide saves group of cyclists in 2007 with 'huge roar
National data on boar attacks are not available, but also a tour of the Stentor's archive yields little. Sporadically there are reports of boar attacks, but that is invariably in combination with loose dogs. Or hunters who have tipped a boar who chooses the attack in his death battle. That way, in 2017, another German hunter died.

Exception is a 2007 incident in Nunspeet where a keiler (male boar) attacked a group of cyclists led by guide Gerrit Rekers. He just showed the cyclists a keiler, who was dozens of meters from the group. However, the animal came to the group unawares. “When he was only 25 meters away from us, I threw the bike aside and ran straight at the animal. Something had to be done at that time otherwise the forest pig would have landed on the group with all the consequences of this. I gave a huge roar, which probably caused the boar to be impressed and bent. This prevented a confrontation. I've been in the woods for thirty years now, but I had never experienced this before,” said Rekers in 2007.

How the attack in Tongeren could have happened is guesswork for Gerrits. The fact is that most of the blood traces were found in the forest (i.e. not on the path), it may indicate that the hiker has left the path. And that is forbidden. But it may also be that the man was attacked on the path and just fled into the forest.

“Not unsafe”
Charlotte Rauwenhoff, director of the (private) Landgoed Tongeren, finds it terrible what happened to the man, but she emphasizes that it is an unfortunate incident. ,, The impression should not arise that it is unsafe to enter the forest. Stay on the paths and nothing will happen to you in principle.”

Hunted
,, On the other hand: it remains nature, eh. And it's getting so crowded in the woods, which might make the wild feel hunted. Many people are not aware of this: how often our boas do not fish people out of the forest in places they are not allowed to go... These kinds of incidents force us to the fact that it is not a “stuffed nature”, but a place where wild animals live and where you have to respect.’’  

https://www.destentor.nl/epe/horror-in-eper-bos-wandelaar-aangevallen-door-wild-zwijn~a77b44ff/?fbclid=IwAR0ZpCMZuLh38EC36iyQTzn_1HD-m2xNE9-Zs_BVkbBUCFk3l95T3x_fCik