Tiffany and Grégory, a couple from Belgium’s Wallonia region, have been sharing their home with Oscar, a rescued wild boar, for more than a year now.
It all started about a year ago, during a hunting trip, when Grégory Guiot brought home a 700-gram boar cub that his dogs had found. It was December 6th, Saint Nicholas Day, and Gregory didn’t have the heart to just leave the helpless animal in the wild, where it would have likely perished on its own Instead, he took hit home to his partner, Tiffany Pierre. Neither of them even entertained the idea of keeping the boar at first, instead focusing on caring for it until they found another arrangement. However, Tiffany and Grégory found themselves becoming more and more attached to the little bundle of joy with each passing day, so when they finally decided to take little Oscar to an educational farm where he would be well taken care of, they both had tears in their eyes…
Photo: Miller-Eszter/Pixabay
“After a few days, we called to ask us to come pick him up because he was literally starving himself,” Tiffany told Belgian newspaper L’Avenir. Gregory told her that if they went to get Oscar, they would never be able to let him go ever again, and the one-year-old boar has indeed now become part of their family. They have taken Oscar into their home, and although they’ve had to adapt to his behavior, they couldn’t imagine living without him.
Oscar has his own sofa, pillows, and blankets and tends to get territorial whenever guests get too close to his property. He gets up and starts to growl, but his mom and dad make sure to explain to everyone that it’s just his wild instincts. At 80 kilograms, Oscar is already incredibly strong, but he is still growing and will likely reach 120 kilograms (265 pounds) in a year or so. Grégory says that he is already the one being walked whenever he takes Oscar out for a walk, and he is only getting stronger.
Boars are known for their intelligence and extremely strong sense of smell, and Oscar is no exception. When he can smell something edible in the cupboard, he will stop at nothing to get to it. That’s why his masters never leave any food where the boar can reach it and have also removed the handles for all cupboards, just for good measure.
Oscar has a very healthy appetite. Every day, he ingurgitates between 1.5 and 2 kg of food, mainly vegetables and dry bread, although he doesn’t mind the occasional sweet treat.
The boar has adapted to his indoor lifestyle. He never relieves himself in the house, instead alerting his owners whenever he needs to go outside. And whenever he comes back inside, he doesn’t mind getting his hooves cleaned.
“I sleep with him on the sofa,” Tiffany said. “He doesn’t know how to sleep alone, even when I take a shower, it’s sometimes hard for him. Grégory sleeps alone upstairs, I think Oscar must have, in some way, an Oedipus complex.”
Perhaps this wasn’t my best idea,” Grégory Guiot jokingly said about the decision to share a home with a boar, but he couldn’t imagine his life without the furry beast. He and Tiffany don’t have any children yet, so they spoil him instead.
