Things I'll Miss About France... vol. 2

Wild Boar
These creatures have captured our imagination during the past few months. We've heard about them, been warned to stay away from them; we see hunters with large packs of dogs going after them this weekend, and every few days we hear about someone hitting a boar while driving; we've seen photos of them, and toured a castle with a huge room filled with stuffed boar, boars' heads, and boars' tusks.

And yet, we've only caught fleeting glimpses of them 'in the wild'. The boars have become mythic creatures for us... we're confident they exist, and long to see them, but we'd sure like to get a good look at one.

The district we live in is mostly farm-land, interspersed with forests and national forests, so we see lots of wildlife. Deer are so common that we only comment on them if they're gathered in a heard of twenty or more; foxes dart across the road almost every night; rabbits, mice and muskrats... yawn; and cows -- Lee likes to roll down the window and shout out to the cows, in their native tongue, as we drive past ("BONJOUR VACHE!!!"), so they still warrant our attention, but they're no longer novel.

But the boar... when we're in the car at night all four of us peer into the darkness intently, hoping to catch a glimpse of these creatures.

We saw a pack of them (a herd? a gaggle?) one night, but it was 2am and by the time I awoke the others, most of the boar had disappeared into the brush beside the road.

Two nights ago, I saw some cars pulled to the side of the road -- one had just hit a boar, and the creature (think "garbage can with hair" and you'll have a good sense of the size and shape) was lying, dead, on the shoulder. I didn't stop (what would I say?) but when I got home, the kids DEMANDED that we all pile in the car and return to the scene of the accident in hopes of seeing the creature more closely. Alas, by the time we got there, the carnage had been cleared and the cars were gone.

Earlier this week, my co-worker Jason was driving home on an especially foggy evening and saw a car actually hit a boar. The car was driving abreast of Jason on a two-lane section of highway, and Jason says he glimpsed the boar about half-a-second before it's demise. The other driver did not see the boar and hit it full-on at about 70mph. The damage to her car was extreme -- Jason described the front-end as being crushed, and indented as far back as the engine block. The airbags deployed and the driver, while un-injured, was understandably unnerved.

So we K NOW they're out there, but damnit, when will we get to see some? This sense of anticipation and wonder has enlivened my daily commute, and added a sense of purpose and excitement to any trips in the car after dark. I'll be sad to lose this sense of wonder and expectation as I climb into my car each night.

Cheers.