A pair of Italian motorists who tried to make a compensation claim after their vehicle supposedly collided with a wild boar were rumbled when it emerged that the animal was frozen.
Investigators believe the wild pig had been killed long before, was stashed in a freezer and then brought out by the two men when they staged the accident on a road in Sardinia.
The men had hoped to claim compensation for the accident from the regional government of the island.
Such claims are routine in rural areas of Italy, where cars often collide with boar, deer and other large wild animals.
But police became suspicious when they noticed that the boar did not bear injuries compatible with a collision.
A vet was summoned to inspect the carcass and discovered that the boar’s internal organs were frozen.
The fake accident was staged on a road near Sorso in the north of Sardinia.
The two men have been accused of insurance fraud and, if convicted, face a heavy fine and up to a year in prison.
While the incident in Sardinia was allegedly a scam, there are many genuine cases in Italy of vehicles colliding with wild boar as the number of animals increases each year.
Italy’s wild boar population has doubled in a decade to around one million, according to Coldiretti, a national farmers’ organisation.
Decades of emigration from rural areas and the abandonment of farmland has led to an increase in forest cover – perfect habitat for the big pigs.
In January, a man was killed and 10 people were injured after cars hit a group of boars crossing a motorway in the northern region of Lombardy.
The three boars involved in the accident died.
The animals had managed to excavate a hole beneath the fence that runs along the side of the motorway.