Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I would like to give thanks to all the people who helped retrieve Thunder, the famous 400-pound Berkshire boar, on loan to me from Native Earth Teaching Farm. At the time I was away in Portland, Ore., and a family member was caring for my little farm that lies within Seven Gates Farm. The electricity in his fence went down late on Christmas Day and Thunder chose to visit neighborhood friends who often bring him scraps to eat. Many Vineyard phone circuits lit up, including mine from Oregon.

A huge black boar with tusks is not something most of us want to encounter roaming in our back yard. Officer Garrison Vieira of the West Tisbury police was first on the scene and it turned out knew exactly how to handle pigs on the loose: a bucket of corn to lure the boar out of the neighbor’s garage!

Please imagine trotting a quarter mile down a dark country lane with Thunder eagerly on your heels. Special thanks to Officer Vieira, Charlie Pachico and my family for getting Thunder safely into his pen and the electricity restored. Officer Vieira explained to my grateful family that it was all in a day’s work. Three cheers for this amazing piece of police work!

Joanie Ames, West Tisbury