Wild boar who stole German nudist's clothes to be culled

The man gave chase, much to the amusement of onlookers. Photo / Adele Landauer

A trained marksman is to be deployed to shoot a wild boar that stole the clothes of a naked German man, Berlin authorities said on Friday.

The boar made international headlines last week after photographs of the portly nudist giving chase were shared on social media.

But in a sad postscript to the incident, the local forestry department said yesterday (FRI) the boar would have to be killed as it has lost its fear of humans and presents a danger to public safety.

The boar in question emerged from the forest with two cubs last week and made its way through crowds of Berliners seeking to cool off in the Teufelsee, one of the city's many lakes.

"You have to put yourself in the boar's position," Katja Kammer of the Grunewald forestry department told local RBB television. "The sun is hot on its black fur. So it heads for water or into a swamp."

Forestry officials have been tracking the boar in question for some time, Ms Kammer said.

"Fortunately, there have not been any serious incidents involving wild boar at the Teufelssee."

Wild boar numbers are regularly controlled by licensed hunters around Berlin and many other major German cities.

When the population becomes too high. the boars emerge from the forests to look for food and can turn aggressive when they encounters humans.

In one famous incident, four people including a police officer were injured when they were attacked by a 265-pound boar that had wandered into the Berlin neighbourhood of Charlottenburg in 2012.

The clothes-thief boar involved may have been enticed to the popular bathing spot by the large volume of rubbish left behind by visitors, Ms Kammer said.

A licensed hunter will be commissioned to track and shoot the boar. However there is still hope of a reprieve.

Forestry officials said it was too dangerous to hunt the boar while the forest is still crowded with people seeking to escape the city heat, and any action would probably be delayed until the winter.

In addition, the female boar in question still has young, and it is illegal to kill mother boars if they have cubs younger than six months.