A Community Crime Prevention Organisation (CCPO) response vehicle hit a wild bush pig on Seadoone Road in the early hours of Thursday morning, 16 May.
“One of our guards was patrolling and driving slowly along the road when the pig ran across the road at about 3.50am and straight into the vehicle’s path,” said CCPO operations manager, Leon Joone. “The bottom righthand side of the front of the bakkie was damaged.”
The officer was unhurt in the incident, but the bush pig was badly injured and aggressive as a result. Toti SPCA was called in to give the police permission to put it down as it was suffering.
“I received a call at 4.15am from a CCPO guard to say he had hit a bush pig and that it was still alive,” said Toti SPCA manager, Tracey Girling. “When we got to the scene Metro Police officers were already there.
We are allowed to dart animals, but you cannot dart an animal that can run away, otherwise it can drop and may never be found or run into traffic. We have had a lot of dogs injured by wild pigs and they can do a lot of damage. Wild bush pigs are also extremely vicious when injured, so they were unable to get a shot on target first time.
Because the pig was injured but still mobile, it had to be destroyed so we gave the police permission to shoot it. As soon as the pig fell, they immediately ensured they put it down properly.”
There was an adverse response from residents on social media when they heard the bush pig had to be put down, but according to Tracey this was the only viable course of action and it was all extremely upsetting for the SPCA staff members who live to save and rescue animals.
“An injured wild pig can be very dangerous, so that is why we had to make a decision and we also cannot let an animal suffer unnecessarily if it is injured,” said Tracey.
