Dhenkanal: A wild boar spread terror among residents of Shankarpur village under Sadar police limits in Dhenkanal district and injured five persons early Saturday morning.
Forest department officials also sustained injuries in a bid to catch hold of the animal and fled to save their lives. Villagers went into a tizzy at the sight of the wild boar, which had by then begun exhibiting full-blown aggression. Later, the boar died after being caught in a trap laid by forest department officials and a snake rescue team.
According to sources, a 10-year-old boar strayed into a farmland near the village and attacked three farmers while they were harvesting paddy. The boar while chasing the farmers strayed into the village. It then damaged two motorcycles before directing its wrath at villagers.
The wild boar later attacked a cow and ran helter-skelter in the village street, badly mauling two persons who tried to subdue it. On being alerted, forest officials and a snake rescue team reached the village and tried in vain to catch the boar.
After hours of trying to catch it, the boar finally got stuck in a trap. It later died due to injuries that it sustained during the melee, sources said. Among the injured were Gopinath Rout (52), Nilamani Rout (60), Santosh Rout (48), Sibun Rout (18) and Abhiram Pradhan (48).
The injured were rescued and admitted to Dhenkanal district headquarters hospital. Forest officials provided a compensation of `2,000 each to the injured for treatment, it was learnt.
The boar was later buried in the forest department premises after post-mortem, sources said. PNN
