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No One Should Be Surprised Shakira Was Attacked by Wild Boars

Boars are bold in Barcelona—and everywhere else, actually.
Colombian pop star Shakira said she was attacked by two wild boars in a Barcelona park this week.
Colombian pop star Shakira said she was attacked by two wild boars in a Barcelona park, 

(Photo by Jo Hale/Getty Images)

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The wild boars don’t care if you’ve performed at a Super Bowl halftime show, collaborated with Beyoncé, or own an Off-White purse. To put this in scientific terms: They already got Shakira, and they’re coming for you next. 

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The Colombian pop star and alleged tax evader said on Instagram Wednesday that she’d been attacked by two wild boars in a Barcelona park, according to the BBC. The pair of pesky animals even attempted to flee to the woods and make off with her purse and mobile phone. 

Yet a very powerful Shakira somehow recovered her designer—albeit torn-up—bag. 

“Say how your mummy stood up to the wild boar,” Shakira told her son in one Instagram story, recommending that he “tell the truth.”

The truth, you ask? Shakira’s not wrong. Boars have attempted to claim Barcelona for themselves. As a highly destructive, trash-gobbling invasive species, they’re also possibly on a quest to conquer all of Europe, if not the world. 

In 2013, a Barcelona policeman shot his partner while attempting to hit a wild boar, according to the Guardian, Two years later, a boar mauled an elderly Sicilian man to death in Italy. More recently, the mayor of Rome sued a regional government, alleging officials were failing to control the festering boar invasion. Wild boars are riding the trains in Hong Kong, for God’s sake. 

Stateside, people are shooting the oinkers from helicopters in Texas, or while standing on their front porch in Alabama.

And while attacks are generally rare, it shouldn’t be a gigantic comfort that Shakira was able to prevail over a pair of boars. The animals can get aggressive and charge and maul their victims, according to Popular Science. 

So, maybe don’t “stand up” to a wild boar. Unless, of course, your hips don’t lie.