A 14-year-old boy in Odisha’s Cuttack district spent more than an hour locked in a struggle with an adult wild boar after the animal attacked him near a canal. The teenager, Suman Behera, was at the Nadikunda canal near Gopalpur village in Dampada block on Tuesday morning when the incident happened, according to various media reports.Suman had gone near the canal to relieve himself. While he was near the canal embankment, a wild boar suddenly emerged from the bushes and charged towards him.
Boy jumps into canal to escape
Suman sustained injuries during the struggle. (Photo credit: ETV Bharat)
Suman tried to get away by jumping into the canal. He apparently expected the animal to stay away from the water. It did not. According to The New Indian Express, the wild boar followed him into the canal and attacked him. Suman then began fighting back in an attempt to protect himself.The canal water was knee-deep, and the teenager wrestled with the adult boar in the water. The animal had grown tusks, the report said. During the struggle, Suman managed to get hold of the boar and tightly gripped its neck. He kept holding it to prevent the animal from attacking him or escaping. The struggle continued for more than an hour.
Suman shouts for help
At some point during the ordeal, Suman shouted for help. Locals heard him, rushed towards the canal and alerted the Banki fire station. The fire station was only about 200 metres from the spot. By the time the fire personnel arrived, Suman had already been holding the animal for more than an hour.A fire services official told The New Indian Express that the boar increased its efforts to escape when the rescuers tried to intervene. Despite this, Suman did not release his grip. The teenager was still holding the animal while standing in the knee-deep water.
Fire personnel rescue both boy and boar
The rescuers first secured the wild boar using an animal catcher. They then helped Suman out of the canal. Suman had sustained injuries during the struggle. He was taken to Banki sub-divisional hospital for treatment, where his condition was reported to be stable. Rescuers found Suman tightly holding the wild boar when they reached the spot after an emergency call. The reports said the teenager was injured and was taken to hospital for treatment.A video showing the dramatic encounter and rescue later surfaced on social media. The incident has since drawn attention to the teenager’s prolonged struggle with the animal. What began as a routine morning trip to the canal turned into a fight that lasted around 90 minutes before the rescue team was able to separate Suman from the wild boar.