Monster pig no hoax - 2009 deja vu!

Doing the rounds since 2009, this powerful porker has captured the imaginations of many web surfers, however its sheer size has lead many people to label it a hoax.

In fact, the photograph is genuine.

At least that is what The Mercury newspaper in Tasmania is saying about this photo, rumoured to be of Pilbara pastoralist John Anick and his 'catch of the day' photograph snapped three years ago.

The 220kg beast was reportedly eating a cow when first seen by workers mustering cattle in a helicopter in Western Australia.

The paper said Mr Anick saw the beast again on a trip to check windmills on the property and shot it.

"I can vouch 100 per cent that it (the photo) was taken in the Pilbara and it is who I said it is," a source close to the Anick family said.

Back in 2009, WA authorities were clamouring to declare the photograph a hoax. Funnily enough, the Pilbara-Anick connection was also made in 2009 by an equally mysterious source - so we're not sure why it's news again this week. Perhaps it just takes a little bit longer for some stories to filter down south!

Anyway, if it's legit, then big cats and yowies aren't the only creatures to look out for in the Australian bush!

Mystery beast of Vietnam caught?

Is this the pet-butchering beast that has been terrorising Vietnam's coastal villages?

The powerfully-built porker invokes memories of the painful Australian
B-grade horror movie Razorback, in which a giant wild boar terrorises the Outback and kills and eats anyone who gets in its way.

Authorities in the central province of Quang Ngai believe the pig is the culprit after they caught the boar on Sunday - it is believed to have attacked and killed as many as 20 pet dogs in a coastal village in the past two weeks.

The boar, weighing an estimated 100 kilograms, was previously spotted in a bush by local residents in Dong Lo village near the Son Tra coastal village, where rumors about the dog-killing “beast” have left villagers petrified with fear recently.

After the boar was taken to the communal building, Le Cu, a local farmer, confirmed the animal belonged to him and that it had escaped from his farm last month.

“After the sow gave birth to five baby pigs, the boar broke the cage and ran away,” Cu said.

Cu added he raised two boars and two sows at home since August 2009.

The attacks of the “unknown animal,” which began on May 6, 2011 at the Son Tra village in Binh Son District, had left carcasses of the dogs almost decapitated and their entrails missing.

Villagers said they had heard the roar of the beast from a nearby mountain, and found large footprints (about 12-15 cm diameter) in the sand.

The Quang Ngai Provincial Forest Protection Department later sent a team to the village to search every bush and uninhabited places in an attempt to find the “beast.”

Several wildlife researchers assumed the animal may belong to the cat family, such as a panther, while others said it may be a bear.

While wild boars are generally plant eaters, they will happily devour any animals they can catch - including, it seems, curious dogs!