I'm leaning toward Mtn Lion, maybe a young one that found this pig a bit to hard to take down. So what do you think? It looks like the skin got ripped back, more than I would think a barbed wire fence could do. Lightning? NorPac bite? Meteorite? Flamethrower? Repulsor Ray?

No idea what caused that wound but I wouldn't want to piss it off.

PS your avatar is creeping me out bro

'nother pig?

My first thought was also another pig. Repulsor Ray was second.

Pigs can be pretty nasty to each other, all right. That's a weird looking wound, though. If it were done by another animal I'd expect it to be some kind of slash, but that just looks like a big, open and spreading sore. Maybe it started as a much smaller wound from daily life but then got infected?...

Gerry

Thanks folks.

I didn't think it was another pig because this was a smallish year old one (around 100lbs or so). I can see the big ones getting into each other, but hard to picture a big 'tusky' one going after a smaller one.

That's a tough one...a pig is very "hard", not loose skinned, so it is tough to imagine how it was so deeply cut...or maybe at Gerry inferred, it was cut more shallow and infection or necrosis caused the gaping wound? Honestly, it looks like a shark bite from the flanks of a tuna. Barring other evidence, I will go with your lion theory, as it would take something powerful to penetrate the tough hide and tear it backward...were other wound visible?

I have seen pigs damage others, the wounds are not so gaping, usually more narrow slashes, and usually lower on the shoulders, boars have very thick skin there, adaption to fighing I would guess?

BTW, you shot some great coyote photos, in the last two weeks I have been seeing 6 -8 week old coyote pups about, maybe a good photo op for your family group?

I'm with Coluber, that avatar is "disturbing"...

Interesting and excellent photo as we have come to expect from you! Vic

I don't know, given that I can't see any big loose-hanging flap(s) of skin (the edge of the wound just looks inflamed to me), it looks more to me as if the skin has rotted away rather than been torn away. Too, I've seen near misses by big cats on a number of other kinds of animals (but not feral hogs), and slashes have always been evident. If that pig were slashed in the front I'd say it was probably another pig, and if it were slashed farther back I'd say it was probably a predator, but with no apparent slashes at all?...

Yikes, maybe it's flesh-eating bacteria!

Gerry

Interesting wound. I would rule out other animals, just because the wound seems to much of a "clean" injury. I would expect a predator-inflicted wound to be more torn/slashed etc. What is going on with the skin though? it almost looks like the outside of a grilled steak with that almost charred look. I'm going with rotting rather than torn. Maybe rattlesnake bite (necrosis?) but a little high for that. Best guess would be either human-inflicted in some way (don't know how) or infection.

i think that pig meet wild animal that's how the pig got the wound..


___________________
I love my almar knives

Pig looks a little better. She followed me and the dog around about 10 days ago. Alo seen a couple days before (first pic):

It's hard to believe that's the same animal. Any chance it was a burn wound? Any brush fires or anything in the area? Maybe it was clipped by a car? Maybe alien obduction?

-nightdriver

Same pig. Same little nick on the top edge of the right ear. Also, this pig is now solitary and feels OK around people. Most of them run away. I think it's one of these from a group of five youngsters last year (40-50lbs then). They would follow my 65lb dog and had no adult 'mentor' to teach them to fear folks.



The last time that I photographed it, I had to wave it off after it came within 10 feet of me and the dog.

Huh, it certainly looks to me as if there's evidence of a vertical slash in your latest picture. Now looking back at your first picture I think maybe I can see it there, too, and maybe also a similar slash nearby and more or less parallel to it. Hard to tell for sure; the human mind is so good at discerning patterns that it often does so where none actually exist.

Be careful for yourself and your dog out there, Owen. Feral pigs are potentially dangerous under normal circumstances, and I would imagine the danger is greater around such a fearless one.

Gerry

Well, looks like wounded pig now has eight little piglets. She's still at ease with me and the dog and is grazing obsessed. As cute as these babies are, they're going to be big rototillers next spring. Right now, they're potential bobcat food.



Not much is cuter than a pile of week old piglets

Owen,
that is an amazing photo series, you were truly in the right place at the right time. The feral pigs I know, even in parks, are usually wary, and I am amazed you shot these impressive photos. I think your Hawaiian heritage is expressing itself...are you getting attached to these pigs? I have been conditioned to really dislike them, in terms of range management, they are bad news as I am sure you know. I have seen meadows turned into muddy quagmires overnight...with nary a bulb, rhizome, fungi, grub, herp, or virtually anything organic remaining, and invasive opportunistic weeds to follow. Is this herd you are seeing regularly doing much damage to the range? To the herp population? Are they rarely if ever hunted and tolerant of photographers or are you stealthy and utilizing a blind? If you want to feature a feral pig at a luau, give me a call, we might work something out.

Great job giving us the "rest of the story", I had been wondering whatever happened to that sow, and the wound seems to be healing remarkably well. I had a friend catch a feral piglet and raise it up. It did fine, but gained weight/growth at a substanitally lower rate than another farm bred piglet of approximately the same age, it appears genetics/breeding may make a difference in efficiency. I agree, week old piglets are really cute.

Great post of interesting and rarely seen photos.

Much impressed, Vic

Vic,

Yes, the pigs do a heck of a lot of damage. That group of five from last fall are the only pigs that 'grew up' around people, so they never had any fear or aggression. I'm sure this sow is one of the five. I'm surprised that the year old is having babies, but since cats and dogs can do that, I guess pigs can too.

As it relates to herps, they till up the grassy basking spots where the garters hang out to the point where it's just lumpy dirt. The rodent holes there are gone as well. I'm not sure how many get 'consumed' in the process, but I doubt many end up on the menu.

No luau for the piglets. They're the size of your average black bass (12"-15").

I just pick a spot to photograph from and the pig works it's way toward me. Babies follow and then they pile. I do everything simple. No blinds, tripods, etc... 99% handheld. These pigs are domestic feral/euro boar mixes and that's why the occasional 'african wild dog' pattern comes out.

Compare your pig photo subjects to the one in the field herp forum from Florida, posted 7/17. These California ones have a lot of wild boar genetics, hairy and long snouted. The Florida one looks like it just walked out of the county fair, long and lean. Also, the fecundity of these feral pigs is amazing, 8 piglets and the sow is only a year old...yet another problem with them. Vic