Piglet in Germany befriends cows after being abandoned by own herd: NPR

A wild boar named Frida runs between two cows on Thursday in a pasture near the Weser River in Holzminden, Germany. The herd gained an unlikely following after adopting the lone boar piglet.

Julian Stratenschulte/dpa via AP

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Julian Stratenschulte/dpa via AP

A wild boar named Frida runs between two cows on Thursday in a pasture near the Weser River in Holzminden, Germany. The herd gained an unlikely following after adopting the lone boar piglet.

Julian Stratenschulte/dpa via AP

BERLIN — A herd of cows in Germany has gained an unlikely following, after adopting a lone boar piglet.

Farmer Friedrich Stapel told the dpa news agency he spotted the piglet among the herd in the central German community of Brevoerde about three weeks ago. He had probably lost his party while crossing a nearby river.

Wild boar Frida eats next to a cow on Thursday in a pasture in Holzminden, Germany.

Julian Stratenschulte/AP

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Julian Stratenschulte/AP

Wild boar Frida eats next to a cow on Thursday in a pasture in Holzminden, Germany.

Julian Stratenschulte/AP

Stapel said that although he knows what extensive damage wild boars can cause, he cannot bring himself to hunt the animal, dpa reported on Thursday.

The local hunter has been told not to shoot the piglet – nicknamed Frieda – and in winter Stapel plans to put it in the shed with the mother cows.

“Leaving him alone now would be unfair,” he told dpa.