SIKALADI, Indonesia: The residents of the otherwise quiet town of Sikaladi woke up one February morning to the buzzing chatter of more than a hundred men and the constant barking of their four-legged friends.
A wild boar was spotted a few days earlier, munching on some peanuts at a farm at the top of a thirty-metre hill overlooking the small agrarian town of 1,500 people, located on a meandering country road in the mountainous interior of Indonesia’s West Sumatra province.
Members of the Indonesian Boar Hunting Association (PORBI) caught wind of the sighting and immediately told its members to gather at the foot of the hill with the sole purpose of hunting down the swine.
That day, the hunters had been flocking to Sikaladi since 8am. One by one, they came with their motorcycles which were fitted with metal cages on both sides to transport their four-legged companions. The more affluent hunters arrived in their pickup trucks, capable of hauling between four to eight dogs at a time.
“It’s thrilling to see our dogs chase down a boar, the commotion, the barks, the cheer of friends,” Mr Sumantri, a construction worker who said he has been hunting boars since he was a boy, told CNA. Like many Indonesians, the 51-year-old goes by one name.
