Woman is held captive by pony-sized pig

A rogue pig the size of a Shetland pony held an Australian woman hostage in her home yesterday after barging into her bedroom at 4am.

Caroline Hayes, 63, fed the 180lb animal and treated him for an eye ailment after he turned up at her rural property in northern New South Wales 10 days ago. But then Bruce, as she named him, began behaving like the lord of the manor.

"He started getting very pushy, started pushing me around," she told ABC Radio yesterday. The situation deteriorated to "the stage where it started knocking on my door at four o'clock in the morning, actually head-butting my door".

Bruce was after food, according to Ms Hayes, who tried to fend him off with a broom. He snapped it in half and then trapped her in her bedroom, preventing her from going outside to the lavatory. She summoned council rangers, who arrived with a dog cage. They lured Bruce into the cage with some food, but he was too big for it, so he reversed out.

Rangers plan to return today and sedate Bruce before taking him to a piggery. They believe he is a pet who was turned loose in the rainforest after he grew too big to keep.

But Ms Hayes, an animal lover and vegetarian, says she will be sorry to see Bruce go. "I haven't stopped crying," she said.