Quote:
Swino the feral pig was a happy drunk. An Australian boar who roamed free among the Pillbara wilds, he managed to live an undetected hobo's existence for years, sleeping under the stars and feasting on strangers' trash until one fateful evening, when Swino embarked on a bender few men could match. In one night, the hog stole 18 beers, rumbled with a cow, and swam a glorious victory lap in a nearby river, all for the benefit of bemused spectators.
And now, true to his live-fast/die-young lifestyle, Swino is dead.
Swino briefly became an international celebrity last month, when he spent the second weekend of September terrorizing campers stationed by the DeGrey River rest area, east of Port Hedland, along Australia's Western Coast.
The Australia Broadcasting Corporation reported that late one night, the animal woke a group of sleeping campers while ravaging their booze supply. "They got their torch out and shone it on the pig and there he was scrunching away at their cans," a camper named Merida told the ABC. In total, Swino got into 18 beers. And that wasn't all he did. "Then there was some other people camped right on the river and they saw him running around their vehicle being chased by a cow," Merida continued. "It was going around and around and then it went into the river and swam across to the middle of the river."
Then Swino disappeared.
Road-works government employee Fionna Findley suspected the pig was just hungover. "It was last seen near the river itself, under a tree," Findley said. "I think it's nursing its head today." (A photo of his damage is here.)
Unfortunately, the next time Swino emerged publicly was a month later, as roadkill. Findley says that a crew found the boar about one kilometer north of the site of his rest-area rampage. The government workers were able to confirm that the body belonged to Swino because of the distinct markings on his ears.
Rest in peace, Swino. May you have all the beer and cow chases you wish in piggy heaven.
