A Ratanakkiri province man was gored to death by a wild boar on Sunday.

Ket Chem, chief of Patang commune in Lumphat district, said that Orch Mou, 32, and Tey Neang, 31, had set out with four dogs, a crossbow and a machete to hunt squirrels in a forest inside an economic land concession belonging to DM Group, about 7 kilometres from their village.

At about 11am, the two Tompuon men’s dogs began to bark as the boar approached.

“They shot the wild boar with several chhor chork,” he said, referring to snake venom-tipped bolts traditionally employed by ethnic minority groups. “But it did not die.”

Neang managed to flee up a tree, but the 103-kilogram wild pig caught Mou mid-climb, inflicting serious injuries to his back, waist and legs. “The boar gored him to the ground,” Chem said.

Still in the tree, Neang used his mobile phone to call villager Thin Klin, 50. However, Mou succumbed to his wounds before making it to the hospital, Chem said.

When villagers finally arrived to help, it took them nearly an hour to kill the boar, Chem said.

“The boar was finally killed after being shot about 20 times . . . during about one hour of fighting,” Chem said, adding that villagers had been killed by boars in the past.

The slain boar was carried to Mou’s home, where it was eaten during his funeral.