Porky plunge turns to tragedy after time on the town in Maraetai

Pigs are good swimmers, but the sea proved too rough for this one, found off the Maraetai coast this morning. Photo / Shane Munro

A wild boar spent the morning terrorising residents of a coastal Auckland town before taking a dip and tragically succumbing to the rough seas.

It was first spotted about 7.30am, trotting down Maraetai School Rd, in Maraetai, east Auckland.

It then shot up into several houses, chasing terrified residents out on to the streets.

Maraetai resident Justin Irvine saw it as he was ordering a coffee at Maraetai Bakery Cafe.

"The girl who owns it said to me, 'You know a big pig just ran behind your car'.

"I turned around and saw this big boar, barrelling down the road."

Irvine estimated it to be 45-50kg.

"It was a big pig. It was up to the window of a car."

He watched it run down a long driveway into a property over the road.

"There was all of this commotion and then people came running out of their property.

"About five minutes later I saw a man chasing it away."

Shane Munro (left), his son Mason, and Dave McKeown. Photo / supplied

Irvine followed it in his car down the main road, going about 20km/h.

"I know how dangerous they can be and wanted to make sure nothing happened."

It attempted to get into Maraetai Beach School but the gates were closed.

"It is lucky it wasn't a school day, otherwise it could have been chaos."

It then took off into the Maraetai Bowling Club across the road.

"It has a bit of native bush around it so I thought it might just settle down in there."

Irvine rang the community constable and left the matter there, returning home to get ready for work.

He later found out the boar had found its way down to the beach to take a dip.

"It is not unusual for them, they are very strong swimmers.

"But the ocean is pretty rough and it eventually drowned."

It was a pretty "random" start to a Friday, he said.

"I have spent half of my life flying around the world for work, but coming home and seeing this really brings you back to the reality of life in New Zealand."

It had likely came out of a forestry block nearby, he said.

"There have been helicopters spraying up there recently, so it might have got spooked and run out."

Maraetai resident Shane Munro went out in his boat to fish it out of the water, but it had washed ashore.

Asked what he was going to do with the boar, he replied: "Put it on a spit mate."