Officials threaten to shoot pig that chased German nudist

A wild pig which went viral after it snatched a nudist's belongings at a popular German bathing spot is now the subject of a public campaign to save her life after authorities threatened to shoot her.

Elsa, the plucky porker who delighted the world when she led a portly nudist on a chase earlier this month, is wanted dead by park authorities because she has "lost all sense of shyness".

Katja Kammer, head of the forestry office in charge of Teufelssee lake near Berlin, told German broadcaster RBB: "This wild sow and her two young is a frequent visitor at Teufelssee."

The man gave chase, much to the amusement of onlookers. Photo / Adele Landauer

"They phlegmatically forage in broad daylight over the grass looking for food wherever there are bathers. They have lost all sense of shyness."

Because of this, Kammer euphemistically said they would need to be "withdrawn as a matter of priority".

In plain language, she wants them shot.

More than 7000 people have now signed a petition to save Elsa and her piglets.

The Guardian reports that the campaign group Action Fair Play has protested at the forestry office.

The group said in a statement: "A few days ago pictures appeared in the media of a man in the nudist section of Teufelssee chasing a female wild boar which had run off with his laptop in a bag.

"These pictures delighted people around the world. Only the forestry office appeared to get no pleasure from them, deciding instead to shoot the sow and her young."

The nudist's hot and sweaty pursuit was captured on social media, with photo of quivering flesh going viral.

Adele Landauer, a personal coach, who shared the photos, revealed that the beast had first pilfered some pizza before snatching his hi-tech prize.

"Nature strikes back!" Landauer wrote on Facebook, saying that the man "gave it his all" in trying to retrieve the computer.

She said onlookers "adored him how focused he stayed and when he came back with his yellow bag in the hand we all clapped and congratulated him for his success".

Wild boar are becoming a pig of a problem across Germany.

Just when they thought it was safe to go back in the water, beachgoers in the north of the country had an encounter with another wild pig.

We will fight them on the beaches. Photo / Supplied

Holiday makers on the Schönhagen beach couldn't believe their eyes when they saw a small black object cutting through the waves. In a video obtained by Associated Press, the animal can be seen coming closer and closer. Families clear their children from the beach front and voices can be heard yelling "clear the way". One can just imagine the Jaws theme building to a crescendo.

Shark!? No, "schwien"!

As the pig makes its way up the beach, it heads straight for a man on the shore front. Fortunately he was able to fend it off with a spade. "Let it run!" comes the cry from onlookers, and the man is in no mind to stop it.

The boar quickly finds a path through the bewildered bathers and into the long grass, where it disappears.

-Additional reporting, Daily Telegraph