A herd of wild boar surrounded a woman who had just come out of a supermarket near Rome and stole her shopping, rekindling a debate about the presence of the animal in Italian towns and cities.
A video posted on social media on Thursday shows the boars approaching and cornering the woman in a supermarket car park in the village of Le Rughe.
The animals, four adults and two young boars, pursue the woman as she backs away, attempting in vain to keep them at bay. The angry woman is then forced to drop the shopping bag on the ground, which is immediately raided by the animals.
The little ones start eating the contents of the bag in the car park, others take what they can and run away.
“I don’t believe my eyes,” said the author of the video.
Last October, the mayor of Rome ordered an investigation after a family of wild boars, commonplace in the city, were shot and killed by police in a children’s playground near the Vatican. The event sparked protests by animal rights activists and some locals.
In recent years, Italian farmers have protested about wild boar wreaking havoc on their land and causing fatal road accidents.
Wild boars are believed to be responsible for an average of 10,000 road accidents a year in Italy.
There have been cases of people being injured or killed in attacks and an increase in sightings of boars, rummaging through rubbish in urban areas.
Last month, Coldiretti, the country’s largest farmers’ association, described the increase of boars in some Italian regions as unsustainable and asking the authorities to intervene.
“We must act as soon as possible and involve the army if necessary,” Coldiretti said in a statement, citing the situation in Piedmont.
Two million boar are estimated to roam Italy and hunting them is a popular pastime in Italy. Boar meat is a staple of Tuscan and Umbrian cuisine.
