Boar cause havoc in town

HUNTERS had to be brought in to shoot 10 wild boar that invaded the town of Chambéry and evaded all efforts to capture them or drive them away.

Up to 20 boar were spotted in a residential area near an old people's home and caused widespread panic.

One conseil général worker narrowly escaped being gored when he was charged. He had to clamber on to a high stone garden ornament to escape.

The animals then jumped on top of a council van that had been set up to stop them getting further into the town.

Although no one was hurt, deputy mayor Bernard Hofbauer told France Info that they could not get the boar to return to the forest and "bearing in mind how dangerous the animals are, we could not let them get into the centre of town".

The prefecture gave permission for wolfcatchers lieutenants de louveterie - state-registered volunteer hunters - to be brought in. Five hunters caught up with a group of the animals in a large patch of shrubs beside an apartment block and killed them.

Mr Hofbauer said that the meat would be checked for safety and then offered to the Cantine Savoyarde meals group.

* Last night a young woman was killed when a wild boar ran across the A13 motorway near Bonnières-sur-Seine on the Normandy border and caused a series of collisions. Last Saturday a woman was killed in the Combes de Savoie valley after her car hit a wild boar.