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'Frozen' wild boar used to fake road crash in Italy

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
'Frozen' wild boar used to fake road crash in Italy
Road accidents involving wild boar are sadly not unusual in Italy. Photo: Gregor Fischer/DPA/AFP

Police in Sardinia are investigating two men who staged a traffic accident by claiming their vehicle had collided with a wild boar - which in fact turned out to be frozen.

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The men had hoped to win compensation from the region for the incident, but investigators became suspicious when they discovered the wild boar that had allegedly caused the crash had a slit throat, local media reported on Thursday.

A vet called to examine the body found the animal's internal organs were frozen, suggesting the beast had been killed and stashed in a freezer before being strategically placed at the "crash site", the Unione Sarda newspaper reported.

The two men risk a hefty fine and prison term of at least a year over the stunt, it said.

Wild boar (cinghiale) are a common sight on and near roads in rural or forested areas in Italy, and fatal car accdents involving the creatures have prompted calls for a cull in some regions.

In Lombardy alone, there have been around 400 road accidents involving the animals in the last five years, according to agricultural association Coldiretti.

 
The number of wild boar in Italy has almost doubled in the last ten years, and “the presence of wild boars in population centres and on roads is now a real risk for the safety of citizens," Coldiretti says.
 
In recent years, the animals have also been increasingly finding their way into towns and cties - most notably around the outskirts of Rome, where authorities say the animals are attracted by rubbish that has been piling up in the streets.

In a freak accident in 2017, one man was killed after his scooter collided with a wild boar in central Rome.

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