The trap was meant to catch wild boars. It snared an unsuspecting Chinese grandmother instead

Rescuers were called in to free a woman from a wild boar trap after she became ensnared while foraging on a remote mountainside in eastern China, the Qianjiang Evening News reported on Sunday.

The 65-year-old woman, surnamed Xu, had gone into the mountains near her home on the outskirts of Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province, on Friday afternoon to pick wild kiwi fruit and chestnuts for her three granddaughters, who were returning home for Monday’s National Day, according to the report.

She accidentally stepped on the trap on a remote trail, and tried unsuccessfully to prise it open with a hatchet before dialling emergency services at around 2pm.

Police from Wushi township spent almost an hour searching for Xu on the densely vegetated hillside, zeroing in on her by blaring a siren and using her descriptions of where the noise was coming from, the report said.

When they found Xu, they realised the trap’s steel spikes could cause further injury if she moved her leg, and called a team of civilian rescuers from nearby Xiande village, who prised open the trap with specialist tools and treated Xu’s wounds.

Xu returned home to Wushi at around 4pm, causing amusement by asking her rescuers how much she should pay them for their hard work. “Auntie, we don’t take any money,” one was quoted as saying.

In August, a 28-year-old-man was trapped in the wilderness in Zhejiang for two weeks after being caught in an illegal wild boar snare. He survived by drinking spring water and eating insects before he was finally found by a search party.