You can’t believe how excited and relieved we were to return home from an Easter break a couple of days ago to find a small, but unmistakable poo on our doorstep!
Last year had begun well when our 2 Autumn juveniles both survived hibernation in our garden and were joined each evening by at least 5 other Hogs. Then tragedy struck in August. 3 casualties in a row found by a near neighbour and ourselves led to 2 hogs being put down (severe lungworm and a broken leg) and the third surviving an amputation and being re-homed by a specialist carer. I was sick with worry that our little female with the broken back leg could have hoglets somewhere but the vet assured us that she was not lactating. Still very sad though.
Only I hog appeared occasionally after that and then no more sightings after the end of September. We were very depressed.
This year, no signs or sightings in spite of food and water always being available, until 2 days ago. After seeing the poo, we put food out, sat in the dining room watching the garden till midnight but nobody came. Disappointment.
But last night – what excitement – a medium sized hog appeared at 9.15pm, ate, drank, pooed (of course) and generally dug and rummaged for 3 hours non-stop! It was still in the garden when we went to bed after midnight. So now we hope that there are other hogs out there. If this is a female, we hope she will attract a few males in! So excited!