Last night my dad gave me the willies by blogging about the spread of feral hogs to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a place widely considered too cold to be good habitat for wild boars. As proof that this assessment was as wrong as a neocon in 2001, check out the photo and the size of the animal. Then Pa compounded my willies by sending me an article about wild pigs in Minnesota.
There are just so many reasons to be terrified. I mean, it's incredible enough that a boar, on escaping from a hog farm, can regrow its tusks. A. Pig. With. Tusks. Add to that the facts that pigs are smarter than dogs, and that they can tear up more ground that a rototiller, and that they are mean, mean, mean... shudder
Thank goodness there are more turkey farms than hog farms around Northfield. Nobody's ever been harmed by a feral turkey - though I did almost hit one once while out rollerskiing on Wall Street Road. Wait, no, that was a pheasant. The spectre of wild boars rooting around on my patio has ruined my memory! Perhaps it will come back if I have some BBQ.