Authorities in the central province of Quang Ngai on Sunday captured a boar believed to have attacked and killed 20 pet dogs in a coastal village over the last two weeks.

After the boar was taken to the communal building, Le Cu, a local farmer, confirmed the animal belonged to him and that it had escaped from his farm last month.

“After the sow gave birth to five baby pigs, the boar broke the cage and ran away,” Cu said.

Cu added he raised two boars and two sows at home since August 2009.

The attacks of the “unknown animal,” which began on May 6 at the Son Tra village in Binh Son District, had left carcasses of the dogs almost decapitated and their entrails missing.

Villagers said they had heard the roar of the beast from a nearby mountain, and found large footprints (about 12-15 cm diameter) in the sand.

The Quang Ngai Provincial Forest Protection Department later sent a team to the village to search every bush and uninhabited places in an attempt to find the “beast.”

Several wildlife researchers assumed the animal may belong to the cat family, such as a panther, while others said it may be a bear.