ANIMAL ATTACKS

MUGGED BY BOARS

n Barcelona, Colombian singer Shakira was attacked by a pair of wild boars in a city park. The animals grabbed her bag and headed off into woods where they shredded it and destroyed the contents. This was just the latest incident in a continuing conflict with boar in the city where the animals have been attacking dogs, plundering cat feeders, damaging cars and holding up traffic. Across Europe, boar numbers have exploded in recent years and lockdowns have led to ever more confident packs invading cities, from which they are proving difficult to dislodge.). Extensive culling efforts are being made but seem to be having little effect on boar numbers, not helped by boars having extremely thick hides which regular bullets bounce off; in 2013 a Barcelona police officer tried to shoot one with his service revolver but hit his partner instead. (For other recent cases of boars behaving badly, see ).