[ad_1]
Auckland’s animal management team are conducting daily patrols to capture an elusive pig, which has been chomping up an elderly woman’s large lawn for a week.
The black, droopy-eared, medium-sized pig first appeared at 90-year-old Patricia Klouwens’ Paremoremo property on June 27.
Despite an unsuccessful attempt by a neighbour to “wrangle” the pig, it would return to Klouwens’ property again and again.
By Tuesday, the pig had chomped its way through about three quarters of Klouwens’ one-acre lawn, leaving it full of muddy “pools”.
READ MORE:
* This little piggy won’t go home: Elusive pig hogs attention in Auckland
* ‘There are pigs running on the street’: Mystery pigs have swine old time in city
“There’ll be no lawn left at this rate,” she said.
It is believed the pig is a Captain Cooker, an English breed of pig introduced to Aotearoa by James Cook.
Cheryl Eatwell/Supplied
Auckland Council’s animal management team are conducting daily patrols to try and capture the pig.
They are known for destroying grass and destroying the habitats of native bird species, such as kākāpō.
Auckland Council’s animal management team is aware of the pig, but despite an “extensive search” by two officers on Friday, they could not cure Klouwens’ problem.
“Our officers are conducting daily patrols and have sighted the pig, and are still trying their best to capture it.”
Cheryl Eatwell, who lives in a house bus on Klouwens’ property, has stepped in to help catch the pig, which Klouwens desperately wants it gone.
Cheryl Eatwell/Supplied
While Klouwens admits the pig is cute, she desperately wants it to stop digging up her acre lawn.
“This darn pig runs like hell.”
“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it running with its short little legs.”
The pig has also taken to napping inside Klouwens’ shed – when it isn’t “churning up” the lawn, Eatwell said.
“It’s very comfortable.”
Animal management helped convert Eatwell’s caged trailer into a trap, with a trail of oats, fat from cooking sausages, bread, cake, apples and corn to entice the hungry hog.
Steve Boardman/Supplied
Klouwens’ neighbour Steve Broadman attempted to “wrangle” the pig, but it managed to escape.
Despite their grievance with the pig, Klouwens and Eatwell hope that once captured, the pig will go to a good home with someone who knows how to handle and contain pigs. It is not known where the pig came from.
Steve Boardman, who runs a business next door and has also been visited by the pig, believed it may have been dumped in his yard.
A similar looking pig was seen trotting around Greenhithe on Saturday. It’s not clear if there are two pigs, or if the pig swam 200m across the harbour and back.
Greenhithe resident Avril Greybe previously told Stuff she mistook the pig for her neighbour’s dog when she saw it on her driveway on Saturday morning.
Alisa Nichols/Supplied
A pig has also been spotted on the run in Greenhithe. It’s not clear if it is the same pig harassing Klouwens in Paremoremo.
“He was just sniffing around, doing what pigs do. He wasn’t getting up to any mischief, that I could tell.
“He seemed friendly.”
Around the same time, Alisa Nichols spotted the pig running along Te Wharau Drive, before it disappeared into a bush.
“[It] was a shock and I had to keep looking to make sure it was a pig and not a dog.”
Despite the pig hogging all the attention on the Paremoremo and Greenhithe Facebook groups, its owner is yet to be identified.
Anyone who can assist with finding and reuniting the pig with its owner is asked to phone the council on 09 301 0101 or email Cheryl Eatwell at cherylpe52@gmail.com.
[ad_2]