Berlin's Boar Problem.....Boring

An appropriately timed article in the Wall Street Journal Europe caught my attention the day before I set out on my latest travel escapade. The article was titled 'In Berlin's Boar War, Some Side With The Hogs'. The article describes the 'battle' that city officials are having with the rowdy swashbuckling swine who have established residency within the city proper. City officials report that there are over 7,000 wild boars living within the cities parks and open spaces at present. The piggies most prevalent crime has been the ongoing destruction of gardens, uprooting of city shrubs and bushes, snorting around in cemetery plots, and a recurrent trampling of the training grounds of Berlin's beloved Herta BSC professional football team. In addition to the growing list of victimless crimes, the boars have been responsible for more serious acts including the death of several residents pets, as well as the death of an 'urban hunter' who, after shooting the boar (apparently not where he was aiming), was gored to death by the angry pigs razor sharp upwardly curving tusks. At 113 kilos the adult hogs are nothing to mess around with.....which is exactly why I planned to seek them out to do just that during my time in Berlin.....

The Berlin city plan contains countless parks that pepper the landscape. The city has everything from small inner city platz to massive expanses of vegetation like the centrally located Tiergarten. I covered endless miles of the city by foot walking to and fro the endless villages of the city. Setting out shortly after sunrise and coming home well after sunset each day. Granted I was in exploration mode and wasn't solely searching for swine but, I did train my eye to habitually scour the shrubs and gardens of the cities parks as I strolled along. To no avail did my efforts yield.....the closest I came to an encounter with the beastly animal was the ham on a sandwich I had for lunch the day after I got to town.