Keith T. Bishop
Vanished
Vanished
Outskirts of Amarillo; May 2012
Nearly a hundred strong, the sounder roamed the Texas Panhandle with authority. The landscape proved ideal for the beasts and was home for hundreds of additional sounders. Blessed with a keen sense of smell and hearing, suitable vision, extraordinary physical characteristics, and remarkable intelligence unmatched by other animals, the boars’ dominance over the region went unchallenged. Besides drought, their only threat had been the occasional coyote, owl, or bobcat poaching a piglet. However, that gradually changed when the first real risk to their existence emerged. Modern ranchers began converting more and more lands, renowned for their natural landscape and home to the wild pigs, to raise cattle, sheep, chickens, cotton, and wheat. Conflict was inevitable, the outcome uncertain.
Omnivores, wild boars located and rooted out the best available vegetation adeptly; they were well-equipped for such tasks. With a sense of smell five times greater than drug-sniffing dogs and the ability to run up to thirty miles per hour, the boars also easily preyed on small animals. But this group of hogs was of no ordinary stock. This sounder was larger, its members stronger and more merciless than the typical feral hog. And its habitat was slowly eroding in size and bounty.
Typically yielding two litters per year and four to five piglets per litter, the nation of wild boars multiplied rapidly. Splinter groups formed, traveling dozens of miles to establish new domains. Producing the most aggressive males, this line of sounders ran roughshod over the region and laid to waste anything in its path as it tore up the land, devouring both plants and animals alike. And as its size and strength evolved, so did its aggressiveness, appetite for blood, and relentless determination to preserve its terrain.
The sounders populating much of the country comprised a minority of pureblood Russian boars, descended from animals imported to the United States in the early 1900s for sport. The majority of the communities were made up of boars that had cross-mated with domesticated hogs that had escaped into the wild and mated with other feral hogs. Yet, the Russian blood dominated the packs until now, until this particular sounder.
Their hides were light brown or black in color with a cream or tan tint on the tips of their elongated bristles. Their ears, tails, and legs were darker than the rest of their coat. These boars had longer legs and snouts, larger heads, and shorter tails than the typical wild hog and periodically topped five hundred pounds. Every physical feature was enhanced, including the calloused scar tissue on the skin which created a shield of armor. With upper and lower tusks averaging five to six inches in length, the sets complemented one another as the upper tusks served to sharpen the concave-shaped lower tusks.
One evening, soon after dark, while roaming the outskirts of their region, the sounder came upon a newly established herd of cattle. The pack’s heightened temperament overcame the beasts, and in an instant, the sounder charged from the edge of the thicket across a small buffer of native grasses before reaching the pasture.
They rapidly descended upon the weakest, while the bulk of the cattle clambered away. Working almost as one beast, the boars savagely rammed, gored, and maimed five calves. As the helpless creatures desperately attempted to regain their leg strength, additional boars joined the fray. Once down, the cattle’s fate was determined. The boars were unyielding as their razor-sharp, piercing tusks repeatedly speared the calves. Their teeth and jaw bones locked onto the young animals’ hindquarters, necks, and underbellies. The creatures’ demises were as quick as they were gruesome.
Within moments of the attack, a few vultures hovered overhead. But there would be no reward for their promptness. True to their nature, the boars devoured in whole every sliver of their prey. They left nothing. Heads, tails, hooves, bones—gone. Even the dirt, soaked in blood and guts, was scoured clean. In a few brief moments, five calves had vanished from the face of the earth.