Old man hit by a pig; breeder liable for 100,000 yuan. Photo: screenshot from Yangtse Evening Post

An old man in Nantong city, East China's Jiangsu Province, was hit by a pig when riding an electric bike, with a local court ruling that the pig's owner was liable for 100,000 yuan ($13,703), local media reported on Tuesday.

One afternoon in October two years ago, Li, a villager, who was nearly in his 70s, was riding along a rural road section when he encountered a large black pig which jumped out from an adjoining field. Li could not avoid a collision, resulting in injuries, with partial damage to the vehicle.

When the traffic police arrived, the pig was nowhere to be seen. Following an investigation and further inquiries, as well as the traffic police issuing an accident certificate, the black pig was identified to be reared by the nearby villager Zhang.

At the same time, the police determined that Li was riding his bike in a safe and legal way and could not foresee the black pig on the road. Additionally, the hog was relatively big, and it was too late for it to avoid a collision and there was no intention or gross negligence. Therefore, it was determined that Zhang bore full responsibility for the accident, and Li was not responsible.

Li believed that Zhang was the breeder of the black pig involved in the accident, and sued Zhang in a local court. The court ruled that the defendant Zhang should compensate Li for medical expenses, disability compensation, mental distress compensation, and other economic losses totaling over 100,000 yuan.