Wild pigs patrol Haifa as city remains under coronavirus lockdown
"They come here and turn over our garbage dumpsters ... This is lack of protection. We actually feel defenseless."
Wild boars cross a road in a residential area after the
government ordered residents to stay home to fight the spread of
coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Haifa, northern Israel April 16,
2020.
(photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)
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.
"We
are scared to go out, even to throw out the garbage. I don't which way
the boars will come," Meirav Litani, a music instructor, said as a boar
loomed in the distance.
"They come here and turn over our garbage dumpsters ... This is lack of protection. We actually feel defenseless."
The
municipality last year suspended culls of the boars, whose urban
incursions, some experts say, are a response to human expansion into
their natural habitat - the surrounding Carmel forest range, of biblical
fame.
Less
sympathetic city folk - especially religious Jews or Muslims who
consider pigs ritually unclean - worry that the larger, tusked animals
could turn violent.
For
now, residents must turn to "pig patrols" made up of volunteer
animal-rights activists who can be summoned at all hours to shoo the
boars away.
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