# Do pigs eat people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728 "2004-03-22T15:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/21 "2004-03-23T03:38:01Z")
Only one _Snatch_ reference? > [@Bricktop](#): > > You’re always goin to have problems lifting a body in 1 piece. Apparently the best thing to do is cut up the corpse into 6 pieces and pile it all togetha. And when you got your 6 pieces you gotta get rid of’em ‘cause it’s no good leavin’ it in the deep freeze for your mum to discover now is it? Then I hear the best thing to do is feed them to pigs, you gotta starve the pigs for a few days then the sight of a chopped up body will look like curry to a piss head. You gotta shave the heads of your victims, pull the teeth out for the sake of the piggie’s digestion. You could do this afterwards o’course but you don’t wanna go siftin’ thru pig shit now do ya. They will go thru bone like butta. You need at least 16 pigs to finish the job in one sitting so be wary of any man who owns a pig farm. They will go thru a body that weighs 200 pounds in about 8 minutes. That means that a single pig can consume 2 pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression ‘as greedy as a pig’. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/22 "2004-03-23T04:37:56Z")
I know I’m not the only one here who enjoyed “The Men From P.I.G. and R.O.B.O.T.” when I was younger. Two scifi novels by Harry Harrison. P.I.G. is the Porcine Interstellar Guard. Intrepid space ranger with his fierce pet pigs. Think K9 unit only…Porcine. He makes substantially the same point as Tamerlane - forget about dogs, you do NOT want to mess with a half ton of angry, trained attack pork festooned with sharp teeth & tusks. ---
**Author:** ![bookbuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9bd4f/32.png) [@bookbuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bookbuster)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/23 "2004-03-23T05:46:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Could a wild pig run down and kill a healthy, fit human adult? Couldn’t we snap their necks? I think in a life or death situation we would tackle them and snap their necks. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/24 "2004-03-23T07:15:08Z")
Have you ever seen a pig? Neck? An adult pig of any kind is like the freakin’ rock monster in _Galaxy Quest_. “It’s a ROCK! It doesn’t have any weak spots!” [This is the kinda thing we’re talking about, only meaner and pointer.](http://www.anth.org/ifgene/pig.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/25 "2004-03-23T09:03:10Z")
> [@aka\_10003](#): > > (…and why do I ask?) > > In the HBO gritty Western Deadwood, a dead man is dumped into a pig sty and the pigs are happily sucking on the cadaver. > > Is that more than Artisitic License? When I was a kid, we kept a bunch of pigs and fed them restaurant leftovers from our restaurant, so they were hardly hungry. When the butcher came out with his truck and shot the first one, then cut its throat and let it bleed right there in the pen (morbid me, I stood and watched), the others rushed in to their thrashing, dead-but-just-hasn’t-figured-it-out-yet erstwhile companion/littermate with whom they had lived all their lives, and began drinking up the blood. Oh yeah. Pigs will eat people too. They’re opportunistic feeders. Just give 'em an opportunity… ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/26 "2004-03-23T13:42:12Z")
and remember, we have been breeding the bastards for meat. Meat is muscle. Even with a layer of yummy fat over it, these beasts are strong. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/27 "2004-03-23T15:19:16Z")
Ambrose Bierce, an American writer of the 19th Century, imparted some of his experience as a Civil War soldier in his essay _What I Saw Of Shiloh_. I believe this is the one where he describes the hellish nighttime sounds of pigs feasting on the soldiers’ corpses, still littering the battlefield after the day’s hostilities had paused, since there were far too many men to bury before darkness fell. Of course, the pigs were opportunistic scavengers in this case, eating people who were already dead. We can’t fault them too much, even if they are ghoulish beady-eyed minions of Satan. It’s not as if they grabbed rifles and participated in the slaughter themselves. Bierce’s keen reporter’s eye would have caught that, I would think. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/28 "2004-03-23T17:02:07Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > It’s hard to picture the chubby little creature as capable of serious damage, Chubby little creature? You must be a city boy (or girl) who saw the movie _Babe_. As I recall, they usually weigh in the 300-400 lb. range when sent to market. Boars, as another poster said, can weigh 700 lb or so. I’ve read of a couple at the Iowa State Fair championships that pushed 1000. Hogs have a low center of gravity and knocking you down is a pushover (heh, heh) for them. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/29 "2004-03-23T17:23:42Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > Chubby little creature? You must be a city boy (or girl) who saw the movie _Babe_. Yep, I am 😉 but after seeing GMRyujin’s link I’ve totally changed my mind! Jeez their like meaner, slightly smaller elephants! ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/30 "2004-03-23T21:30:50Z")
The wild ones have tusks, too. So imagine 300 pounds of pissed off pig coming at you, only the front end is really pointy. Wild boars are so nasty they added protective crossbars to hunting spears to keep the bastards from killing you after you stabbed it. [Cite](http://www.vanishedwood.org/other/hunt2.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/31 "2004-03-23T22:12:17Z")
> [@GMRyujin](#): > > The wild ones have tusks, too. So imagine 300 pounds of pissed off pig coming at you, … ::Spits out strawberry and herb tea all over keyboard:: Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/32 "2004-03-23T23:17:07Z")
> [@bookbuster](#): > > Couldn’t we snap their necks? I think in a life or death situation we would tackle them and snap their necks. Snap their neck? These things are fast, charge, are pretty heavy and have tusks. You’d disembowelled before having the slightest chance to grasp their neck (and given the said neck’s size, I bet you’d need a lot of body-building before being able to snap it). Fortunately, boars, like most wild animals, avoid humans, and AFAIK, will charge you only in last resort (from their point of view). They aren’t predators, and won’t hunt you, they just attack in (perceived) self defense. Now, if they manage to kill you, they’ll probably feed on you, but this will only be a side-effect. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/33 "2004-03-23T23:58:21Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Yep, I am 😉 but after seeing GMRyujin’s link I’ve totally changed my mind! Jeez their like meaner, slightly smaller elephants! No need for alarm. Although they are big they don’t stalk people. As someone has said, they are omnivorous and opportunistic. If something edible comes their way they will eat it. Most of the cases of people being killed and eaten were those who had a heart attack or something or were accidently knocked down. That’s why my wife’s cousin kept me out of the yard and stayed away from the crowd himself. This particular herd did a lot of jostling and crowding at the feed bunk, even more that is usual which is a lot to start with, and could easily have knocked me over and then trampled me in their rush to get at the feed. ---
**Author:** ![trupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/34 "2004-03-24T00:19:26Z")
Dopers of the Emerald Isle, please feel free to correct me. I read somewhere that feeding to pigs was a method of choice for discreet body disposal by both sides in the Ulster troubles. ---
**Author:** ![PigBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@PigBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigBoy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/35 "2004-03-24T00:57:13Z")
You’d all better watch your backs, or I just might eat you! But seriously (sort of)… If I fall over and a nearby pig thinks I look tasty, will it try to kill or otherwise immobilize me so that its damn lunch won’t thrash about in resistance, or would it just tuck in without bothering? I gather that the pig would be perfectly capable of fighting back (and winning), but if I do resist, would it actually fight me, or would it just go look for something less troublesome to feast upon? And do the answers to the above differ depending on whether we’re talking about the domesicated or wild versions of these feared creatures? ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/36 "2004-03-24T01:03:48Z")
I don’t see what is so shocking. Humans eat pigs. Pigs are omnivores, just as we are. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/37 "2004-03-24T01:16:25Z")
> [@MoodIndigo1](#): > > I don’t see what is so shocking. Humans eat pigs. Pigs are omnivores, just as we are. Yeah but at least we don’t go around slaughtering the sick little… oh… eh… ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728/38 "2004-03-24T18:14:29Z")
Without contradicting a word of the testimonials to these critters’ willingness to eat people and their ability to do so over your objections, I’ll say that they are also highly intelligent creatures, up there in the zone between dog and dolphin, and can be trained in lots of complex and useful ways. Generally speaking, if they know there’s reward-food in it for them, you can elicit reliable behavior from them, and feel pretty safe around them, at least as much so as in the company of a german shepherd or pit bull or doberman pinscher. They do have a long memory, though, and can bear a grudge over a long stretch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pigs-eat-people/235728.md?page=1)