Look Out for Them Thar Boars!

That's what I said, "Boars!" -- as in wild pigs!  I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked out the back window of our apartment late Saturday afternoon.  At first, I could only make out some movement in the tall grass that had overgrown the rice fields in the valley immediately behind the Mission House.  I was drawn, though, to watch. 

There was something out there. In a matter of minutes, he came into the clearing, or at least, I'm pretty sure it was a he. It was a boar! He was as big as any pig I had ever seen back in Missouri.  But he had something those hogs did not.  He had a mane of short, stiff, black hair running from the top of his head to the middle of his back -- the sign of what an Arkansan would call a "razorback."

But then, I realized that this big guy was not alone.  There was a second dark and equally big boar rooting around, too . . . and three more young pigs.  A whole family of wild boar had come out of the woods to root for their evening dinner in our "backyard."  We haven't experienced much of Korean native wildlife, so this was quite a sight. 

I tried to take a picture -- just in case some of my more skeptical readers might be supposing that I've gone to composing fiction just to liven up our last few weeks here.  Here's what I was able to catch with my little Samsung digital camera with its 31.5mm zoom lens.

When I recounted this little adventure to my mother in a telephone conversation this morning, she highly recommended that we not take any more hikes up into the hills behind the Mission House, unless of course, we were well-armed with a big stick.  Look-out for them thar boars!