Meerhout (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – A wild boar assaulted and seriously harmed a woman inside nature reserve ‘t Steen in Meerhout. A walk with her dog was the setting when the attack happened, but it remains uncertain whether the dog was leashed at that time. “The wild boar was possibly protecting a nest, and the animal felt threatened,” says Mayor Fons Hannes (Vooruit).
A woman in her sixties at ‘t Steen nature reserve in Meerhout suffered severe injuries when a wild boar attacked her while she walked her dog. Medical personnel treated the victim at Geel Hospital after the boar attack around 11 a.m., which resulted in deep tooth-inflicted wounds. The authorities have begun placing warning indicators for public safety across all entry points into the reserve.
“She suffered deep cuts, probably caused by the teeth. I haven’t spoken to the woman herself yet, but I hear it was a pretty serious incident.”
The municipal government of Meerhout wants to prevent more victims.
“We immediately put our heads together,”
Says Hannes.
“In the meantime, we have put together laminated warning signs in A2 format that we will hang up on the access roads to the nature reserve this afternoon.”
“We certainly don’t want to create a fear psychosis, but it is important to keep your dog on a leash and to keep a close eye on the bushes during walks. If you know that such a wild boar can weigh up to 150 kilograms, then such an attack should not be underestimated,”
The mayor concludes.
How common are wild boar attacks in the Meerhout region?
Wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations continue to increase throughout Flanders, particularly within the Meerhout area, because of environmental habitat development and scarce natural predator species. The Flemish Agency for Nature and Forests (ANB) reported that Limburg province wild boar sightings increased by 40% since 2015, when measuring between 2015 and 2023. The ANB has documented six human attacks due to wild boar encounters across Flanders in the last five years, yet two of these incidents caused severe injuries.
The nature reserve ‘t Steen in which this attack took place belongs to a broader forested area where wild boars reside naturally. Local authorities have counted about 50 to 70 wild boars in the area using wildlife tracking from 2022. The hunting laws allow controlled animal culling activities to limit wild boar numbers, yet disputes sometimes occur, specifically in spring, when protective sows defend their newborn offspring.
The Flemish Environment Department documented that most wild boar encounters occur with dogs when they remain unconfined, and this behaviour may lead wild boars to act defensively. A wild boar confrontation happened in Balen in 2021, which led to minor injuries to the dog walker. Experts recommend that people stay far apart from boar habitats while keeping pets on leads in these areas.
The ANB conducts public awareness activities in Meerhout and other high-risk regions to minimise human-wildlife interactions.
