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Among the most surprising finds is that the inhabitants of the earliest cities of the Bronze Age (3500–1200 b.c.) were enthusiastic pig eaters, and that even later Iron Age (1200–586 b.c.) residents of Jerusalem enjoyed the occasional pork feast. Yet despite a wealth of data and new techniques including ancient DNA analysis, archaeologists still wrestle with many porcine mysteries, including why the once plentiful animal gradually became scarce long before religious taboos were enacted...In the 1990s, at the site of Hallan Çemi in southeastern Anatolia, archaeologists unearthed 51,000 animal bones dating to about 10,000 b.c. Of these, boar bones made...

Animal rights campaigners in France are celebrating after a wild boar facing the threat of death was allowed to stay with its owner. The boar, named Rillette, was found in 2023 as a piglet by Elodie Cappé on her horse-breeding smallholding in Chaource, central France, after apparently being abandoned by its mother. Local authorities had refused Ms Cappé the permission required to keep a wild animal. Unable to find a sanctuary to take Rillette, she faced the possibility of having to get it euthanised. A French court has now ruled the authority's decision must be re-examined. Ms Cappé's husband thought...

Though some people may call them "cute", Javelinas are arguably rather ugly animals and possess a rather unpleasant odor which is why some people refer to them as "musk hogs". They aren't wild pigs but are actually members of the "peccary" family that originated in South America. They have become accustomed to being in close proximity to humans and will generally ignore people. If you try and approach them. they will simply leave the area, but if provoked and threatened they've been known to defend themselves with their long, sharp tusks.The colorization of the Javelina is peppered black, gray and...

Wild boars cause chaos in European cities and the countryside - but one has captured hearts and minds in France. A wild boar under threat of euthanasia by local authorities has become a celebrity in France, with support from animal rights campaigners and French actress Brigitte Bardot. The boar, named Rillette after a slow-cooked pork spread, was rescued by Elodie Cappé, the owner of Saint-Clair equine farm in Chaource, north-central France. Rillette was first found injured in April 2023 after she escaped from a hunting trip. Cappé cared for the boar, keeping her in a secure enclosure and providing Rillette...

An exploding population of hard-to-eradicate “super pigs” in Canada is threatening to spill south of the border, and northern states like Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana are taking steps to stop the invasion. In Canada, the wild pigs roaming Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba pose a new threat. They are often crossbreeds that combine the survival skills of wild Eurasian boar with the size and high fertility of domestic swine to create a “super pig” that's spreading out of control. Ryan Brook, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan and one of Canada's leading authorities on the problem, calls feral swine,...

The company used their solid propellant Minotaur I rocket to place the payloads into a low Earth orbit with a liftoff from Pad-0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia occurring on Tuesday, June 15 at 13:35 UTC (09:35 EDT). Due to the classified nature of the launch, nothing is publicly known about the payloads. However, the mass must be less than 580 kg, which is the max payload capacity of the Minotaur I. In keeping with NRO tradition, the mission patch consists of a whimsical piece of artwork, a mission motto, and some clues as to the...

Nobody wants to discover two wild animals barging into their home and jumping onto their bed. However, this is exactly what happened to a family in India. Two black wild boars broke into a home in a village in Kerala, a state in southern India, barged into the bedroom and began jumping on the bed. The incident, which happened last week, left residents terrified. The animals also reportedly destroyed the furniture in the room. The family immediately locked the bedroom, ran out of the home and managed to escape unhurt. A video of the break-in showed the two animals roaming...

A population explosion among wild boars in the US has led experts to warn that a “feral swine bomb,” if left unchecked, could wreak havoc on large swaths of the country. Undark Magazine reported on the explosion of the pig population, which has caused an estimated $2.5bn worth of damages every year. Feral hogs trample and tear-up crops, attack livestock, and can destroy sensitive habitats. The pigs also act as disease carriers. They can host more than 30 viral and bacterial diseases as well as scores of parasites. here are approximately 9 million feral hogs in the US, and their...

While coronavirus closures are coaxing wildlife into the abandoned streets of many a metropolis, in one Israeli city the four-legged interlopers are assertive and, well, quite boorish. Wild boars, some as bulky as Rottweilers and traveling in family packs, have been trotting through Haifa in increasing numbers. Their once-nocturnal visitations now take place throughout the day, as they root through refuse, spook domestic pets and even block roads. The visitation, since nationwide lockdowns came into effect this month, has revived debate among residents of the hilly port city as to policy regarding the pests.

Wyatt Walton is busy right now. The founder of Lone Star Trapping has set up shop in south central Texas, but makes his living capturing feral hogs across the state. Trappers have expanded company to help provide food Want to provide knowledge on consuming meat On top of the traps and late nights collecting the animals, Walton and his partners have branched out, launching Texas Specialty Meats--processing wild boars and shipping the meat all across the country. "You know, these feral hogs were brought to America for meat," said Walton. "Well, when the stock laws came, and you had to...

While coronavirus closures are coaxing wildlife into the abandoned streets of many a metropolis, in one Israeli city the four-legged interlopers are assertive and, well, quite boorish. Wild boars, some as bulky as Rottweilers and traveling in family packs, have been trotting through Haifa in increasing numbers. Their once-nocturnal visitations now take place throughout the day, as they root through refuse, spook domestic pets and even block roads. The visitation, since nationwide lockdowns came into effect this month, has revived debate among residents of the hilly port city as to policy regarding the pests.

Christine Rollins, 59, was attacked in Anahuac, east of Houston, outside a home where she worked as a caregiver to an elderly woman. Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne told reporters on Monday: "In my 35 years I will tell you it's one of the worst things I've ever seen." "No doubt in my mind that it was multiple animals and we can tell that from the different sizes of the bites," said Sheriff Hawthorne, adding that the homeowner's dogs appear to have chased away the hogs before Rollins' body was discovered. The sheriff said neighbours had recently complained about rampant...

A wild boar was ultimately subdued after it tried to attack a customer at a gas station in Priceville early Monday morning, Priceville police said. Decatur officers initially responded to a report of a wild boar charging a patron at the Chevron gas station on Point Mallard Parkway Southeast around 3 a.m., police said. The Chevron station is within the Decatur police jurisdiction. The animal then ran to the Mapco gas station and into Priceville police jurisdiction. Officers spent about 30 minutes chasing the animal through a field near the Comfort Inn, and across Highway 67, police said. Officers eventually...

The residents of Sungai Buloh, Selangor were greeted with an unwelcome guest when a wild boar sneaked into the neighborhood’s mosque on Tuesday night. A mosque-goer was injured by the wild boar amidst the ruckus at Masjid Jamek Sungai Plong. The mosque’s imam Ungku Ahmad Hazwan Ungku Kamarudin said that the incident happened as worshippers were performing additional prayers after Maghrib prayers. “Our mosque was visited by a male wild boar who had gotten lost in the mosque’s grounds. It subsequently started chasing mosque-goers and children in the grounds. It then went into the mosque and we could see that...

San Francisco residents surrendered a wild boar to Animal Care and Control officials this week in what officials are describing as a definite first for the agency. The residents apparently found Spirit, a young wild boar, when he was a baby three months ago in an area near Mount Shasta. They brought him home to keep as a pet, but developed doubts about keeping him as he got bigger, according to Deb Campbell, a spokeswoman for Animal Care and Control. Campbell said Spirit walked into the animal shelter on a harness and leash. Animal Care and Control is now looking...

A hunter has bled to death after being attacked by a wild boar he was about to shoot in northern Spain. Another man dies after horrific goring at fiesta (14 Aug 15) Two Spaniards die after being gored by bulls (25 Jun 15) The hunter, 59, who has not been named, died on Sunday morning after being found unconscious near the village of Laza, in the province of Ourense in the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia. The attack happened after the hunter shot the boar, injuring the animal who was then surrounded by his hunting dogs. When he approached the...

Defense Spending: The venerable A-10 Warthog, designed to stop Soviet tanks, and the perfect weapon to "degrade and destroy" the Islamic State, as President Obama promised, faces a budgetary chopping block. We have noted the irony of how Obama was going to war against the Islamic State with weapons systems he had scrapped, ending the production runs of the F-22 Raptor and Tomahawk cruise missiles. They were dismissed by the administration as relics of the Cold War even as Russia was rearming and trying to reassemble the old Soviet Union. We've also mentioned the phasing out of the A-10 Thunderbolt,...

(IraqiNews.com) On Thursday, a local source in Nineveh province said, that the ‘Wild Boar’ aircraft which belongs to the U.S. Air Force has carried out four air strikes that killed and wounded dozens of ISIS elements, adding that the aircraft sparked panic in the ranks of ISIS. The source said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “The U.S. aircraft A-10 Warthog (Wild Boar) carried out, at dawn today, four air strikes on gatherings of ISIS elements in the village of Sultan Abdullah in Makhmour district, southeast Mosul,” adding that, “The raids resulted in the death and injury of dozens of ISIS...

On Thursday, a local source in Nineveh province said, that the ‘Wild Boar’ aircraft which belongs to the U.S. Air Force has carried out four air strikes that killed and wounded dozens of ISIS elements, adding that the aircraft sparked panic in the ranks of ISIS. The source said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “The U.S. aircraft A-10 Warthog (Wild Boar) carried out, at dawn today, four air strikes on gatherings of ISIS elements in the village of Sultan Abdullah in Makhmour district, southeast Mosul,” adding that, “The raids resulted in the death and injury of dozens of ISIS elements.”...

PERU, N.Y. — They roam by night, picking cornstalks clean, making off with apple crops. They have almost no natural predators, but they have razor-sharp tusks and a seemingly bottomless appetite for plants and animals. Their population can triple in one year. They are feral pigs, and while they have long plagued parts of the Southern and Western United States, now they have become a problem in the peaceful Champlain Valley of New York, an agricultural heartland on the edge of the Adirondacks.