Diagnosing injuries caused by Indian wild boar: A case report

Abstract

Wild boars are medium sized mammals commonly seen in Europe, Asia, North Africa and Greater Sun-da Island and India. Sus scrofa cristatus species is commonly seen in India. They are primarily nocturnal animal and are generally shy in nature, so incidences of attack by wild boar are rare. They are dangerous due to their razor sharp tusks, which can cause serious injuries. Wild boar attacks are under reported in the medical litera-ture. Attacks on humans by wild animals causing fatal injuries are not uncommon in rural and forest areas of India. This is the case of a 55-year-old male farmer who was assaulted from by an adult wild boar. Autopsy ex-amination revealed multiple penetrating injuries, bilateral rib fractures and an anorectal injury. Unlike the inju-ries inflicted by wild cats, canines and bulls, the hallmark of boar attack is the infliction of multiple penetrating injuries to the lower part of the body. As the victims of wild boar attack are usually recovered from rural forest areas, the investigating officers could be misled as to the nature of infliction of these multiple, fatal penetrating injuries to a possible homicide. This case is reported for its rarity, for the awareness of the possible injuries in such unnatural deaths, and for the factors predisposing to a boar attack. It is concluded that fatal penetrating injuries caused by this type of attack can be associated with extensive soft-tissue damage despite externally appearing to be simple puncture wounds. Keywords: Wild boar, penetrating injuries, anorectal injury