Ōamaru man Steve Easton has been left broken and bruised after an encounter with a wild boar in St Bathans last week.  

Steve, who had been staying at his holiday cottage at St Bathans, was taken to hospital in Ranfurly, after he was charged at by the boar, and left unconscious with a dislocated shoulder, gouges in his cheek from the tusks, and other bruising.

St Bathans Area Community Association secretary Alison Fitzgerald said the wild pig situation was “bloody frustrating” and they were becoming “too brazen and coming very close to people”.

Steve, who is president of the community association, was ushering out six feral piglets and a sow from his garden last Tuesday (February 28).

As he got onto the public roadway a wild boar came from a different location and knocked him off his feet.

Steve’s wife Pauline said he tried to side step, but didn’t have a chance and he ended up in a ditch. 

“He had chased them out and herded them up the road towards what we think is Department of Conservation (Doc) land,” she said.

Luckily his friend was on hand to take him for medical treatment.

Residents want the problem addressed, Pauline said.

“Next time it could be a child that’s in the way.”

They have raised the issue with the Otago Regional Council, however a council spokesperson told the Central App feral pigs in that area were not part of the council’s remit. 

Pigs are only covered in council’s Regional Pest Management Plan within the site-led areas of the Otago Peninsula, West Harbour and Quarantine/Goat Islands, which are all situated in the wider Otago Peninsula area.

Doc Central Otago operations manager Nicola Holmes said the organisation was aware of reports of a person being attacked by a wild pig in St Bathans.

“Doc actively undertakes wild animal control, including pig control, in areas of large public conservation land (PCL) near St Bathans – for example the northern Dunstan ranges. 

“However, the area directly around the St Bathans village has many different landowners, and comparatively small amounts of PCL, meaning a community approach is needed,” she said.

Nicola said while Doc was limited in its ability to control wild animals not on conservation land, they were keen to engage with the community to see how they could offer support. 

DOC's advice is not to approach wild pigs as they can be dangerous.