Malaysian boars flee floods, get dished up instead
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Two wild boars fleeing for dry ground after torrential downpours in southern Malaysia ended up in cooking pots, a local newspaper reported on Wednesday.
One animal, weighing about 80 kg (175 pounds), dashed into a food court and scattered 30 diners before it was cornered and beaten to death by a group of fishermen who divided the meat among their friends, the New Straits Times said.
Fishermen nearby hauled up another boar of similar size in a net a few miles off the coast after it apparently drowned, the paper said.
Ser Boon Huat, chairman of a regional fishermen's association, said there had been many sightings of dead animals at sea after floods that hit southern Johor state, bordering wealthy Singapore, last Saturday.
The creatures would try to swim to safety as their homes in the coastal mangrove belt got flooded. Reptiles such as snakes climbed to the top of trees, the paper quoted him as saying.
Muslims in multi-racial Malaysia do not eat pork, but it is favoured by ethnic Chinese, who are often Buddhist or Christian.
A total of 28 people have died so far in floods in Malaysia's south and northeast, where rising waters have driven more than 34,000 people from their homes to seek refuge in community halls and schools, local media have reported. (Reporting by Clarence Fernandez; Editing by David Fox)
