The encounter happened in 2024, when Luo, a 33-year-old from Guangzhou, took pity on a starving wild boar with a head injury that burst into his home and cooked it a pot of noodles. Over the next three days, the animal kept returning to his door in search of food, according to Global News.
Concerned that the boar might be hunted if left outside, Luo decided to take it in and care for it through the winter. He named the boar “Noodles” and began looking after it at home, despite initial worries that it might grow aggressive.
“At first, I was concerned it might become aggressive as it grew, but it has actually grown gentler over time and even understands simple commands,” he told Jimu News.
A wild boar in its natural habitat. Photo by Unsplash |
Within a year, Noodles’ weight increased from 15 kilograms to 75 kilograms. To give the boar more space, Luo moved from his apartment to a private house, where the animal now lives in the backyard. He spends about 500 yuan (US$70) a month feeding Noodles roughly two kilograms of grain, vegetables and meat each day.
Videos of the boar’s daily life, from leash walks to car trips and grooming sessions, have attracted around 200,000 followers on social media, generating about 5,000 yuan ($710.1) a month in income. Luo said his wife, who initially opposed keeping the boar, later accepted the arrangement after seeing both the animal’s gentle nature and the steady earnings it brought to the household.
Noodles’ growing popularity has also drawn commercial interest. Luo said he turned down an offer of 50,000 yuan to sell the boar, explaining that he wants the animal to live comfortably and does not want it to be exploited.
According to Fu Jian, a lawyer based in Henan Province, China’s Wildlife Protection Law permits individuals to take in wild animals that are not on the specially protected list, though breeding such animals requires official approval.
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