While boars have been known to steal phones and once even stole a laptop from a German nudist, Dr Du says their motivation to go for tourists’ bags is most likely to find food.
He told Express.co.uk: “It’s like in our seaside towns where we have seagulls. People will feed wildlife because they think they’re being helpful.
“It’s not helpful because then wildlife becomes habituated and they’ll hang around where food is.
“If a boar came up to me and tried to take my backpack to steal food, I’d certainly be letting them have it.
“That’s an issue that tourists need to be aware of. Just like the apes on Gibraltar who have a bad reputation for stealing tourist bags for food and I think that boars are rather more intelligent than apes.”
