TERRIFIED: Roaming pigs corner elderly woman

'If they had of knocked my mum to the ground they would have killed her'

A horde of hungry pigs and piglets left an Eatonsville woman and her elderly mother terrified when they swarmed on her property in search for food. Picture: Contributed

NOTHING gets between a hungry pig and food, and three starving sows and their horde of hungry piglets left a woman and her elderly mother in fear for their lives after they laid siege to their Eatonsville property in search for food.

Karen Knowlson was startled awake by the sound of her 82-year-old mother screaming for help, and found her bailed up by three sows and more than 30 piglets, which had found their way onto her property from a neighbouring property.

The sows, which Ms Knowlson estimated would have weighed more than 200kg, went on to cause severe damage to the property as they tore down her chicken coop in their desperate search for food.

A horde of hungry pigs and piglets left an Eatonsville woman and her elderly mother terrified when they swarmed on her property in search for food. Picture: Contributed

"It was really terrifying, if they had of knocked my mum to the ground they would have killed her," Ms Knowlson said.

"They were hungry pigs and nothing gets in their way, it is the nature of the animal they will eat anything and it was bloody terrifying.

"We were terrified, we were under siege from these three enormous sows."

After she rescued her mother from the sows and was safely back inside, Ms Knowlson called Grafton Police for assistance in removing the animals. Police were unable to respond immediately as their officers were responding to other call-outs, so Ms Knowlson tried Clarence Valley Council rangers.

A horde of hungry pigs and piglets left an Eatonsville woman and her elderly mother terrified when they swarmed on her property in search for food. Picture: Contributed

Ms Knowlson said she was left angry and disappointed with the response from the rangers, who she said told her they were unable to help as the animals were on private property.

"They told me they can't come onto private property, so they couldn't stop an 82-year-old woman from being attacked by pigs, but they'll come onto property to take dogs away," Ms Knowlson said.

"Not coming to our aid because it was private property, it's a joke. We were terrified and we felt completely unimportant to the authorities.

"If you get into trouble on your own property, you'd better be able to get out of it on your own."

Ms Knowlson said she has since managed to remove the pigs from her property.

Clarence Valley Council has been contacted for comment.

Originally published as TERRIFIED: Roaming pigs corner elderly woman