Duisburg
When De Haan in Duisburg City closed, the stuffed advertising boar also disappeared. It has found a worthy retirement home.
–
Almost every sow in Duisburg knows this boar – with all due respect. There is probably no black coat who has achieved such fame in his life, especially not dead. Year after year he stood in front of the De Haan game and poultry specialty shop on Kuhstrasse in downtown Duisburg and advertised the delicacies that Clemens John was selling in the traditional business that was over 100 years old, both mute and stoic. The boar defied wind and weather and also many a dog who barked at the intimidating but defenseless bristle cattle, which was intimidating by its size alone, or even took out wet cheek.
Children, however, loved the imposing animal, liked to stroke its wiry fur, peck at its pointed ears, the very brave ones even grabbed its mouth, unimpressed by the considerable tusks that protruded there. What should happen big? The boar couldn’t bite anyway. But what he once loved to do in his lifetime. And it was precisely these behavior that became his undoing.
Hunting trophy from Schwafheim
A good 25 years ago the wild boar eke out its existence with a farmer in Moers-Schwafheim on the Danielshof, as Clemens John tells. “There were about 15 to 18 pigs gathered at the place that the farmer kept.” So far so good. But at some point the boar rebelled more and more, which was not to be taken lightly with a chunk of around 200 kilos. So the farmer had no other advice than to get rid of the animal. Then it happened that John – then 29 – had just acquired a hunting license. “Yes, and when the farmer asked me if I could help him, I killed the boar”, John soberly describes the end of the unruly boar.
Fur smells like Maggi
The fur was not pulled over the ears of the proud boar. Instead, John took his hunting trophy with him and had it prepared immediately. The now extremely peaceful animal had no place in the home. And so it became a “slow shopper” for John. “That was a real mascot for us,” says John. For 20 years it stood as an advertising landmark next to the front door, sometimes outside, sometimes inside. The latter usually after closing time. But sometimes, John admits, he forgot to roll the animal back into the shop on its heavy pedestal with wheels. “Then the pig got wet too,” says John with a laugh. “And then there was a strong smell of Maggi. Wild boars like to eat lovage. It accumulates in the rind and fur.” The scent unfolds especially well when the fur gets wet.
Even after 20 years, the bristle cattle still look good
But it wasn’t because of the bristle cattle’s extraordinary odor that Clemens John couldn’t take his hunting trophy home with him when he gave up his shop in downtown Duisburg in July 2014. “My wife just didn’t want the boar at home,” explains John. “And I didn’t want to let it gather dust in the garage either.” So it was a good thing that John has had a friendly business relationship with Lothar Möbius, who runs a poultry farm in Rumeln-Kaldenhausen, for several years. When John Möbius asked if he could offer the famous animal an old age seat, he was immediately hooked. “It’s great,” said Lothar Möbius happily. “The animal does something.”
But over the years the boar has left quite a few bristles. The snout is now bare, the tail for such a magnificent animal is rather stunted and the good animal has lost one of its glass eyes at some point in all these years. And yet Lothar Möbius’ farm shop is extremely beautiful. The poultry farmer likes the bristly mascot: “The pig goes well with us. It is worthy of it here.”
– .
