Tag: wildlife

South Korea’s endangered natural monument, the white-tailed eagle, flies while holding a fish over a lake in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, on Feb. 7, 2017. (Yonhap)

I am surprised some enterprising ajushi hasn’t started hunting these wild boars for his own samgyeopsal joint:

Eighty sightings of wild boars have been reported in downtown Seoul in the first six months of this year, according to the city government’s report to the National Assembly’s Security and Public Administration Committee. This is almost one sighting every two days.

The figure rose from 54 to 199 cases between 2012 and 2014, Yonhap news agency said. It dropped to 155 last year, but if it stays at the present rate it will exceed last year.

Jongno District has had the most sightings, accounting for 35 percent of the 623 cases reported between 2012 and June this year. Eunpyeong District and Seongbuk District were second and third.

The three regions are next to Bukhansan National Park, one of Korea’s main wild boar habitats. The animals often descend from the mountains to residential areas or to hiking trails in search for food or when they leave their herd after losing power struggles.

The boars can be extremely dangerous when aggressive. On June 11, a man in his 70s was severely injured in an attack while he was working in a field in Goryeong, North Gyeongsang Province. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but before people start getting panicked about getting attacked by a wild boar keep in mind that you are probably more likely to get attacked by person than a pig.

This photo, released by the Environment Ministry on Jan. 17, 2016, shows a type of bat with golden-yellow fur that researchers from the Korea National Park Service have found on Mount Odae in the northeast province of Gangwon. They also found the endangered species, also known as the golden bat, on Mount Wolak in the central province of North Chungcheong. (Yonhap)