Riding with Boars

That's Theodore, our wild boar, as a youngster. He loved to participate in everything we did. Here he is having a riding lesson with Jessica. Theodore started life in the Pig's Bathroom but as he grew, moved in with his wife Rachel. In order to feed these hungry animals we depended a lot on an exquisite Italian restaurant that was so kind as to fill a garbage can full of left-overs every day. They were so careful to keep out any objects like plastic, cigarette butts or metal. The wild boar dined on pasta, fish, salad and lots of cheese and bread. After a while we had to stop with the Italian food because the vet said they were getting way to many carbohydrates. Theodore grew to over 200 kilos and was the size of my kitchen table but he remained very friendly even to the children who came to visit, whereas Rachel was only friendly to family and had to be kept in her pen when the other animals were turned loose to play together or socialize with visitors. Sometimes Theodore would just wander over to the house from the stables and lie on the patio in the sun along with the dogs and cats. The day our new next-door neighbors moved in they saw a sight that might have almost made them change their minds. The other neighbors and I were walking around with bananas, avocados and grapes, a wild boar's favorite food, calling out their names. They had both escaped from their pen with their four new babies and were roaming the neighborhood introducing their litter to everyone. It was quite a sight to see this boar family making the rounds.