Wild pigs and dogs don't mix!

This blog is usually about how wonderful life is in the region – but once in a while I have to take off my rose-tinted glasses and admit that there are certain things that are not so perfect.  Sangliers, to be precise.

I have always been aware of the existence of Sangliers nearby – there are often footprints in the garden, strange noises in the forest, and we are regularly woken early by the sound of gun-shots from the local hunters.  There are often articles in the local paper about vineyards being ravaged by these wild pigs, or funny stories about a mother sanglier and her babies appearing regularly on a beach nearby and being fed by tourists.  But these animals can weigh 80kg, and while under ‘normal’ circumstances they keep themselves to themselves, when they feel threatened, they can attack.

We usually take the dogs for a good walk towards the end of the afternoon, they wear ‘high-vis’ jackets and recently I found collars with flashing lights – and as night falls and we can hardly see them, it is very funny to watch these flashing lights running around the vineyards as they try to chase rabbits.  We will not be doing that again.  On Tuesday both dogs disappeared into the woods having heard noises.  Bo, the young dog soon ran back to us in a panic, but we could hear Loulou, the border collie, barking frantically.  After what seemed an age, she responded to our calls and we got her back to the house where she collapsed exhausted and out of breath on the terrace.  They were both covered in mud (as usual!) so I started to clean her with a towel and noticed a wound on her stomach – not really bleeding, but a hole in the skin, which obviously needed stitches.  The emergency vet confirmed this, and said she thought Loulou had probably just got herself snagged on a stick or a rock, but that she would need to be anaesthetized while the wound was cleaned and closed.  The next morning I collected a very sleepy looking dog, with TWO enormous sticking plasters on her body.  The vet told me that they had found a second, more serious wound on her thigh, with muscle damage, and that her injuries had definitely been caused by a Sanglier.

Last year the hunters killed over 13,000 sangliers in the region, which means there are at least double that amount roaming around and I have no intention of meeting any of them. Luckily, with plenty of antibiotics, rest and TLC, Loulou will be OK, but we have learned a valuable lesson.  Walks will be during daylight hours only.