Wow, I don’t know what’s more disturbing: the size of the pig or the kid who got him:
Oink Oink! :eek:
This is way more fun than the Loch Ness monster. I guess it would have killed all the hunter’s joy to whip out the cells to get help and try to capture the thing. Tagging it would have lead to some interesting research into these bacon factories since there must be more.
In the meantime, I think the local farmers better lock up their giant vegetable crops. Or not… What’s worse? Giant well fed monster hogs remaining unseen or giant monster hogs on a rampage? Hmmmmmm…
It was farm raised and a former pet.
One way or another, they’re all either escapes or descendants of escaped pigs. Alabama has no native wild pigs anymore.
I think there’s a Pit thread in this story.
from another article here:
Number one, it’s awfully convenient that the hogs are not feral (thus relocating them is legal) until the moment they are released, at which point they magically become feral for purposes of shooting them.
Number two, it’s stupid to claim a pet animal is “feral”. Feral implies a certain wildness and unfamiliarity with humans. This creature was used to thinking of humans as a source of food, at the very least, and the kid followed him and shot him multiple times over the course of several hours, if I recall the original article correctly.
What a challenging “hunt.” :rolleyes:
Sailboat
I, for one, welcome our new piggy overlords.
Agreed.
Again agreed 100% some body is trying to play everyone else as fools except thier story came unraveled, but “they didn’t realise it wasn’t feral.” :rolleyes:
1,000+ pounds and extremely intelligent? I agree completely that it’s unethical to release a pig for hunting, but oh yeah- it is most definitely a challenging hunt. (Much smaller domesticated hogs have killed humans.) Wild boars and feral domesticated hogs caused numerous deaths and amputations throughout the world over the centuries- these animals are smart, mean, and stronger than oxes. Forget about Arnold from Green Acres- even domesticated pigs who have gone feral will kill and eat game animals and even dogs. (They’ve also figured out how to turn bat droppings and saltpetre into gunpowder and fire projectiles using hollowed logs---- I’ve heard.)
We once had pigs escape from their pen when they were only about 100-150 pounds each and it took forever, with the help of a wonderful dog, to round them up and corral them again. They can be nasty little buggers and can take down a dog in nothing flat.
The last group of pigs we had when I was a kid ended up going to the slaughter house before they were grown- we had little baby pork chops and hams. And after spending months chasing those damned things- they were delicious. Pigs are almost too smart to be used as food animals and I wouldn’t eat them on general principal if it weren’t for the fact that Damn, they’re yummy- especially a well seasoned roast, mmmm-mmm–mmmmm.
Well, this hog hadn’t “gone” feral…he’d been released four days before he was shot. This was just a pet wandering around trying to figure out his new environment. He certainly had no instinct to avoid and flee humans.
As far presenting a challenge by virtue of being dangerous once wounded, I believe the articles mentioned that an adult with a rifle was standing watch in case the animal tried to retalitate.
The killing took three hours, using a handgun. The most “challenge” involved was simply waiting for internal bleeding to take effect.
I can’t see this as a noble conflict between man and beast. It was a pure stunt, conducted for a fake record, clearly cruel, and only legal by a particular interpretation of a technicality.
Sailboat
Also, the pic when viewed with other pics taken the same day (with more “realistic” proportions), obviously shows the kid cleverly posed some distance behind the hog to make said hog look bigger.