Not diplomatic: Boar chases British ambassador in Austria

VIENNA – Some situations leave even the most seasoned diplomats unprepared. Take a British ambassador’s encounter with a wild boar.

Leigh Turner, Britain’s ambassador to Austria, says he was left shaken and lightly injured after being chased recently by a hostile boar in Vienna’s Lainzer Tiergarten nature park.

He wrote that a “massive” boar charged at him after he chanced upon a group of the animals — several adults and some piglets — in the woods. He said the boar “never made contact,” but he sustained minor injuries caused by slipping while trying to climb a tree.

Although Turner says he escaped with only scratches and bruises, his blog shows a photo of what he calls a “pity-inducing splint” on his hand, meant to stabilize it until the swelling goes down.