Svångemåla under attack

I cannot say that I did not see it coming but I was still surprised, sad and mad when I saw what the wild pigs (Sus scrofa) had done to my lawn while we have been away for some weeks. It has never been a smooth, manicured lawn but I have without problems used a normal lawn mover to cut the grass while it now looks more like a field that has just been plowed. About one third of the lawn is damaged and requires serious work before it is back to what it used to be.

The first night we heard the grunting of pigs and when I rushed out I could see two large pigs staring at me for some seconds before they flew over a one meter high and two meters wide wall of stones. The next day we put some old wire fence there but the next step will be an electric fence. Many have already had to put up such fences and even if my plot was badly damaged we saw one not far away that had been completely ruined. The wild pigs are gradually becoming such a serious threat to the farmers as well as common house owners and motorists and I wonder how long it will take before it becomes a political issue.

Having lived in Africa many years I now have an even better understanding of the anger farmers there feel when elephants and other wild animals ruin their farms / shambas and thereby threaten their one and only way of surviving.

The force required to turn up such large pieces of soil and grass is amazing and it is even more astonishing that they can do it by just using their snouts.

I still don't know what the best way of repairing the damages is. Remove everything and put new soil in the holes or to use a cultivator to smash everything and then even it out???