VIDEO: Wild boars filmed on night out in Cartagena city suburb

Resident’s video shows group trotting through children’s playground in the middle of the night

Residents of Cartagena have been shocked to see a group of eight wild boars running around in the middle of the Nueva Cartagena neighbourhood at night this month.

They were filmed there during the first week of this month wandering along the pedestrian promenade along Avenida de Nueva Cartagena, near the Flamingo bar.

Residents’ association president Antonio Molina was quoted in regional press as saying that this is the first time these animals have been seen in the area, where he has lived for 20 years.

The video, which was posted on the association’s Facebook profile on August 10, shows them by the children’s playground, he explained.

There appear to be two or three adults and several younger ones of various sizes.

The same group of boars, known as a sounder, was also spotted a few nights later by the McDonald’s restaurant on Avenida Juan Carlos I, in the adjacent neighbourhood of Los Dolores.

Both sightings took place between 3am and 4am, when there was not much traffic and they would have been able to venture into the built-up area more easily, Molina deduced.

He believes that the animals come from the more rural area of Tentegorra, just three kilometres away to the south-west of the city centre, and that lack of food in their natural habitat may be pushing them to forage in residential areas.

In the video, which has been viewed over 140,000 times, the boars seem skittish but relatively undisturbed by people passing quite nearby.

Nevertheless, the social media post warns fellow residents to take care, because the animals could be dangerous if they feel threatened.

Wild boars are commonly seen in other areas of Cartagena, such as Calblanque regional park, Lo Poyo and El Carmolí by the Mar Menor, and Escombreras, south-east of the city near the refinery.

In February last year, Murcia regional government organised a battue with the regional hunting federation, at the request of city hall, to flush out the wild boars, which resulted in 83 of the animals being killed, most of them females.

Normally action such as this is requested by farmers because boars are destroying their crops.

However, these animals are multiplying and spreading into urban areas in the region of Murcia and other parts of the country due to lack of food and because they have no natural predators.

They are often attracted to rubbish and grassy parks and irrigated areas.

Wild boars do not normally attack humans, unless they feel cornered or someone gets too close to a female with young boarlets.

Anyone who sees wild boars is advised not to approach them, especially with a dog, or to feed them, and should call the emergency services.

Images: Asociación de Vecinos de Nueva Cartagena / Facebook