HONOLULU (KHON2) — A run in with a wild boar on the H-3 Freeway highlights the danger feral swine pose for unsuspected drivers. The driver who hit the pig wants to warn others.
Get Hawaii’s latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You
The left driver side of Shoji Shimamura’s car is missing after he said he smashed into a wild boar after midnight Wednesday on his way home from work.
“The bumper actually squeeze into my tire,” Shimamura explained. “I actually keep (driving) cause it was sketchy stopping in front of the H-3.”
Shimamura said he was in shock and didn’t feel safe stopping on the freeway. When he got home he had to clean the blood from the animal off his car.
According to Shimamura, he didn’t see the animal until it was too late cause the area is so dark at night.
“If it was lunch time I could see it but so dark there, there’s no even light there yah,” Shimamura said. “So it was all of a sudden, so I couldn’t even dodge or anything.”
He’s counting his lucky stars he wasn’t injured and wants to warn other drivers.
“I want to prevent this,” he explained. “Like its a kind of sketchy, of course it’s about animals too right. I feel bad hitting them too. I’m alive now but like I might have got into a bad accident. I thought its really sketchy so that’s why I want to share at this moment.”
According to the Hawaii Department of Transportation, so far this year, they’ve been called out 51 times to remove pigs hit along Oahu highways.
In a statement DOT said:
“”Reports vary based on the land use surrounding the highway with occurrences increasing during the dry season or when animals seek to avoid hunting areas… In areas surrounded by brush or near hunting areas, drivers are reminded to always obey the posted speed limit, drive defensively and be cautious of animals crossing the roadway.”
Mitchell Tynanes, former president of Oahu Pig Hunting Association with more than two decades of experience trapping and hunting feral pigs, said there are wild swine all around the H-3.
“If I set the trap I’ll catch pigs,” he said. “There’s a lot of pigs in this area.”
According to Tynanes, the only reason a wild pig would cross the road is if it’s running from something.
“Usually if you see them on the side of the road they’d be digging you know they’re hungry but if they’re crossing or running across a highway it would probably be because they’re being chased or they’re being hunted,” Tynanes explained.
Since there are no natural predators it’s up to humans to control their numbers through legal trapping and hunting to prevent accidents.
“You’re late in the game when somebody gets mauled, killed, hurt so we want to be ahead of the game, be proactive instead of reactive,” Tynanes said.
