A Canberra woman attacked by a wild pig while walking her parents' dog in Jerrabomberra has described the incident as "like something out of a horror film".
Michaela Vodvarka was walking two-year-old boerboel-great dane cross Zeus at Mount Jerrabomberra about 5pm on Sunday, July 19, when the duo came across the boar.
Ms Vodvarka, of Bruce, needed stitches in both legs after she was bitten by the pig.
"I was walking back towards my parents house and the dog took off up the hill so I started calling him," she said.
"I knew he could hear something - he was gone a couple of minutes. Then he chased out a pig. It was a massive black pig, about 60 to 70 kilograms.
"It looked like [Zeus] was playing with it more than attacking it. I tried to push the pig away and it turned on me."
Ms Vodvarka said the pig bit her left leg, leaving a two-centimetre puncture wound.
She said she spent the next 10 to 15 minutes trying to push and kick the wild boar away.
"I turned my back to the pig and I tried to bear-hug the dog - it was probably the stupidest thing I could do," she said. "The pig ran from behind and I've tried to back-kick it and it's bitten my right leg. That required nine stitches."
Zeus chased the pig down the hill, creating a "standoff", before a father and son came across the scene.
"They've called out to Zeus and Zeus has pretty much come straight away to them. The pig didn't follow," she said.
Ms Vodvarka was taken to hospital covered in blood. Both leg wounds were stitched up and flushed with peroxide.
Luckily, Zeus "didn't get a scratch".
"When I first got home he was shaken [but] he was pretty good," she said.
Ms Vodvarka said the incident was "absolutely horrifying".
"It was like something out of a horror film. At the hospital, it was such an incredulous thing - no one has ever heard of it happening."
She believed the pig, which was missing one eye and both ears, had been attacked before.
"It had one eye, the other looked like it had been shot and healed over," she said. "It was extremely aggressive."
Queanbeyan City Council has urged people in the Mount Jerrabomberra area to watch out for feral pigs.
The council has organised a licensed specialist to survey the area and remove the animal, if found.
Environment and health manager Natasha Abbott said the council did not know how the pig ended up in the area.
She encouraged walkers to keep their dogs on leashes and to stick to the roads.
"This is the first report of its kind that the council has received in recent memory," she said.
"The lady involved was quite shaken by the ordeal and council is urging those who walk Mt Jerrabomberra and people who occupy houses that may back on to the reserve to take care."
Mrs Abbott said anyone who came across a feral pig should not approach it and should call the council's after hours number on 6298 1234.
Originally published as Canberra woman attacked by wild pig in Jerrabomberra by Canberra Times.
