This veterinarian breeds wild boars in captivity

Dr. Juanito Pio Lledo, provincial veterinarian of Puerto Princesa, Palawan, breeds wild boars to have a deeper understanding of this disappearing species and, with outside assistance, conduct genetic profiling for future scientific studies.

But the closest he got to his objective of coming out with a genetic profiling was when former Bureau of Animal Industry Director Dr. Jose Q. Molina sent a veterinarians from BAI and another scientist to extract blood samples for testing in local and foreign laboratories. After the blood collection, nothing happened after more than three years.

In 2001, when Lledo heard that his friend from San Rafael, Puerto Princesa had a wild boar girl piglet, he exchanged it for his full grown white pig. A few weeks later, he heard that in Barangay New Cuyo in Roxas, Palawan, someone had a male wild boar that was to be slaughtered for the fiesta, "I immediately went there and offered P7,000 and got it." He then asked help from the police to transport it to Puerto Princesa.

He mated the two animals which brought him four piglets. But one time, while he was away from his farmhouse, a visitor came and this startled the piglets who rushed to their father. Since wild boars eat their kind, he lost three piglets.

Before the boar couple died in 2003, Lledo managed to have their blood samples taken for studies in laboratories of BAI and abroad. However, no results ever came back to him.

With only one piglet left, Lledo again tried to scout for an aging female boar for his barako. He bought one from another barangay in Puerto Princesa. They mated and had four offsprings. Two died one after the other. So only two, a boy and girl, are left behind.

Lledo said he wrote then Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor asking for his assistance to conduct gene profiling on his breeds of wild boar.

"I am the only one in the country who successfully bred wild boars. So when I showed them the pictures and how I did it, they agreed with me that a profiling has to be done to ensure that knowledge on this species will help prolong their lives and propagate them continuously so they do not become extinct," he said.

Montemayor then ordered then BAI Director Dr. Jose Q. Molina to send a pathologist to undertake the blood collection and examination and a foreign scientist also came to the site for the blood collection.

From 2002 till now, Lledo has not received any report or even a statement from the BAI who undertook the blood testing. The only thing Lledo remembers is that the blood samples were taken to the laboratory of the University of San Diego, USA.

Lledo, with his small income from being a full time provincial veterinarian of Puerto Princesa province, barely has enough to spend for the upkeep of his two girl and one male wild boar.

He said he feeds them daily with a sack of corn grits (somewhat more like corn powder/flour) and provides them with the shots needed to prevent their catching cold or other common diseases of hogs.

He is now asking for financial and technical support from any local or foreign group interested in the preservation of wild life that are facing extinction to help in the upkeep of these animals and to solicit the help of technical experts who can undertake the gene profiling, once and for all.

"I would like this to be my legacy for the future generations so that they would still be able to see how a wild boar looks like and how they lived and how they could be bred in a non-wildlife setting," he said.