When Jewellers Dora Wei and Nuwan Hemachandraand got back from a camping trip in September 2020, they were met with an unexpected package on their doorstep.
Their gardener had found a tiny, shivering baby boar – no bigger than a loaf of bread – who had been left in a box outside their home in Kandy, in the Sri Lankan jungle.
Believing the piglet to have been separated from her mother and to be only a few hours old, they Googled ‘how to raise a wild boar’ and got to work on the intense routine of warm baths and hourly meals needed to keep the little boar they named Yezhu alive.
Dora says it was their three-year-old Labrador rescue Biu Biu who really bonded with Yezhu, training her to eat, walk, and play. She said: ‘Thanks to her wonderful parenting, Yezhu thinks she is a dog.
‘And despite being around twice her weight now, she still thinks Biu Biu’s her mum.’ Dora, who is originally from Guangzhou, China, and Nuwan thought Yezhu was a baby deer when they first saw her.
‘It was the first time I’d ever seen a wild boar. I actually thought she was a deer, but then I double-checked the nose and I realised what she was,’ said Dora, who’s been with Nuwan for four years.
‘I was so shocked. I didn’t know what to do. We didn’t know if we should keep her or not. But she was helpless and crying. ‘It was a life or death situation. If we didn’t keep her she would probably die.
‘Taking care of her came from the heart. She’s a living creature, we couldn’t let her die. ‘Any animals that come into our home are welcome.
‘Our hearts just melted when we saw Yezhu. She was so tiny, we wanted her to be that small forever.’ When they found Yezhu, Dora tried calling a friend who worked with wildlife conservationists but was told that no zoos or rescue centres would provide a home for the baby boar.
So the couple added the adorable sow to their family consisting of two Basset hounds, Benjamin, eight, and Ginger, five, their cocker spaniel, Coco, three, and Biu Biu.
Dora said: ‘Thankfully, because of the pandemic, we had a lot of free time and we knew we couldn’t just leave her as she would die.
‘We checked online and soon found it’s not easy to take care of a newborn as they may not have had their mum’s milk. ‘She woke up every two hours crying for food.
‘We needed to keep her warm, so we replaced a warm water bottle every hour and keep it beside her.’
Those first few weeks were critical for Yezhu’s survival.
She said: ‘We took turns sleeping with her in the living room, because we had to feed her every two hours.
‘During the day, I’d end up on the couch with her. It was really tough for the first few weeks, as we were not sleeping much.
‘We thought she wasn’t going to survive. She was very unwell.’
Thankfully, after feeding her with a milk formula and creating a little sleeping area in their living room, Yezhu soon grew stronger.
She immediately began to bond with Biu Biu, and would constantly try to squeeze into her mouth and climb on top of her – something she still attempts to do even though she’s an awful lot bigger now than she was as a baby.
Dora said: ‘With Yezhu, we had another dog. She was doing everything like the dogs. She walked with them, played with them.
‘She’s always running around with them and she always wants to be with them.
‘Within 30 minutes of letting Yezhu out of the box, she was trying to climb in Biu Biu’s mouth. It was so funny.
‘Now they are completely inseparable. They do everything together.’
These days, Biu Biu and Yezhu go for swims and walks together every day, and even eat out of the same bowl. Most of all, they love to take naps together.
Dora said: ‘We didn’t even need to train Yezhu, she just followed the dogs, so in a way, they trained her.
‘When they ate, she followed. When they went on walks or went for poos, she just followed.
‘Wild boars are very clean animals, so she has always been incredibly well-behaved.’
Dora and Nuwan decided to build a tiny replica of their home for Yezhu in their garden in March 2021 and even built her a little pool to cool off in.
But she still prefers to tear about the house, where she’ll wait patiently for pats and belly rubs.
Nuwan, who has now returned to work, said Yezhu’s unexpected arrival on their doorstep was the best gift anyone could have asked for.
He added: ‘It’s been pretty incredible. We absolutely love animals and Yezhu to us was just another part of our family.
‘The fact the animals all love each other so much and spend so much time together feels really unique.
‘Yezhu has been sleeping on Biu Biu since the very beginning. Even now, she doesn’t realise how big she has become, so she still sits on Biu Biu.
‘It’s just a way of showing love.
‘We’re so grateful that she was left in a crate with us.’