Too Many Pigs
by Jack Ewing
People often ask me what it was like when I first came to the southern Pacific region of Costa Rica. Surprisingly many have the misconception that there was jungle everywhere, complete with jaguars, tapirs and scarlet macaws. My memories of those times, however, bear no resemblance to that image. In the early 1970s there were many more hectares of pastures and rice fields than of rainforest. I lived here for four years before I saw a monkey or coati and seven years before I saw a toucan. I had heard about the peccary (wild pigs) which migrated into the region a couple of times of year, but I never actually saw one until 2004, after having lived here for thirty-two years.
Things have changed markedly since that time. Last dry season, I saw three collared peccary in one week, one crossing the road and two on a walking trail. Several Hacienda Barú Lodge guests, who had gathered at the restaurant for a late afternoon beer, were treated to the spectacle of a collared peccary trying to break into the butterfly garden. It ran back and forth along the netting, occasionally charging it, trying in vain to break through. One of our guides took a photo of a pair of peccaries in the orchid garden. That same day, my wife, Diane, called the office and excitedly informed me that she was standing on our front porch, observing a couple of peccaries rooting around under a tree about 20 meters from the house. During the month of August 2009, two groups of visitors hiking in the rainforest encountered groups of more than 20 peccaries.
