Wild boar caught on camera stalking the streets of Balclutha

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You could be forgiven for thinking a Silver Fern Farms employee was telling porkies with his tale of a late-night, main street encounter with a wild boar.

But Carwyn Macaulay can back up his story with footage of the animal, taken in Balclutha early today.

Macaulay, who works at the Finegand works near Balclutha as a process improvement specialist, said that as he drove through the town after work early today he spotted a dark shape on the road up ahead.

"I saw something dark on Clyde St and slowed down. I though someone had dropped something on the road but to my surprise, it was a wild pig," he said.

The keen hunter wished at that moment he had a weapon in the car but then common-sense prevailed.

"I didn't want to spark an Armed Offenders callout so I shot him on my phone instead, for all my friends on Facebook and Instagram."

He followed the large boar down off Clyde St and along Elizabeth St.

"He was a big fella and looked to be between 72 to 77kg in weight, he was just wandering along the road past Holmdene then he headed down towards the river, I lost sight of him when he reached the Clutha River bank," Macaulay said.

The video has drawn a lot of comments on Macaulay's Facebook page, and some people are talking about a return to the area to seek out the porker.

Clutha District Council Communications spokesperson Sue Wilkins confirmed the council did receive a notification about a black and tan pig being seen in Hospital Rd overnight.

"The issue was passed on to our roading contractor and we do not know of the outcome; however, it is unusual for us to get wild animals wandering around in town, although we do get the occasional sheep reported," she said.