Animal Control officers and a hired company plan to return to a Lithonia neighborhood Thursday morning to place traps to remove wild pigs that have been frightening residents.
Robin May photographed one of the pigs near 709 Bridge Way, near an abandoned home eating scraps — one of four that have been seen in the neighborhood recently.
Demarques Williams and his six siblings got a scare Monday evening when they tried to chase a wild hog out of the backyard of their Lithonia home.
“It chased us back into the house,” he said. “I was scared at the moment it started chasing me,” said the 17-year-old who lives in the Stonebridge Woods subdivison where four wild hogs have been spotted over the past few days.
Demarques told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the animal appeared to weigh as much as 300 pounds and had six-inch tusks and heads into a wooded area with a creek running nearby. “When it goes in the woods it doesn’t go far, it just turns back around and looks at us,” he added.
The feral hogs are roaming the neighborhood, eating garbage in front yards and scaring people, according to neighbors and DeKalb County police. DeKalb County police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said authorities had hoped the hogs could be trapped Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday.
UGA swine specialist Robert Dove said wild pigs can be aggressive if you challenge them for a food source. “And they may become aggressive if they have a female protecting their young,” much like a bear protecting her young ones.
Veteran bow hunter Perry Millet showed up with a crossbow and a compound bow Tuesday to help solve the neighborhood’s wild hog problem after he saw a report on the news. “You don’t want them chasing kids. That’s what brought me out here,” he told the AJC.
But police told Millet that while they appreciated the help, he would need a permit to hunt the animals. Millet said he’d return after he got the permit. He listed two reasons: “The kindness of my heart and I like the wild game, I like the meat.”
Staff writer Robert Lee contributed to this report.
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