Feral Hog Attacks Austin Animal Control Officer After Breaking Steel Fence

You don't have to live in Central Texas for very long to know that feral hogs can be vicious. An Austin Animal Control officer got a firsthand look this weekend at just how aggressive these wild pigs can be.

A feral hog bit or gored the officer in the leg while the he was trying to remove the animal from a northeast Austin neighborhood on Sunday, according to KXAN.

The hog was running around yards in the Lakewood area around 1 p.m. Someone living in the area estimated that it weighed between 150 to 200 pounds and had around 4 inch tusks.

A painter working in the area managed to lock the hog in a yard, but the creature did not like that at all. It attempted to escape by bulldozing its way through a steel fence.

“It got way at the back of the yard and he started trotting up towards the gate, and he got within ten to fifteen yards of the gate into a full gallop, and he just ran into the gate headfirst and totally smashed into it,” said Kevin McConnell, who lives in the area.

The hog dented the fence before the animal control officer arrived. The officer tried to use a catch pole to get the hog with no luck. The animal took another run at the fence and managed to smash through.

It ran off into the greenbelt behind the neighborhood, but not until it attacked the officer. The officer had two large gashes in his leg and was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Photo: Getty Images