How best to care for a wild pig?

In My Humble Opinion
1

SHORT VERSION: A wild pig is trapped in a cage on our property, and the trap-setter is nowhere to be found, so I’m trying to take care of the pig since it seems incredibly cruel just to let it languish. What does it need, food and water-wise?

TLDR version: I’m on the Big Island of Hawaii for most of the summer, enjoying our delightfully rustic property here (I call it “our little piece of Appalachia in the tropics,” if that helps you visualize it a little).

Anyway, we’re always battling something, and at the moment it is wild pigs. They look cute as hell, but they can actually be a bit vicious, and they wreak havoc on the land. They root through the soil for grubs, destroying gardens, promoting erosion (our land is really sloped as it is on the side of a volcano), and uncovering tree roots for us to trip on. Since I arrived a little over a week ago, we’ve had two sets of sows, each with three piglets, wandering about.

This being the case, one of our tenants got a local guy to set pig traps. He catches the pigs in large traps (they don’t hurt the pig, just slam a cage door shut) and smokes the meat. (Serious yum - kalau pig is a Hawaiian favorite.)

All well and good, but yesterday morning we had a trapped sow in our front yard, and the pig guy is nowhere to be found. The tenants have gone off to the mainland for a month, so they are no help.

Assuming the pig got trapped only moments before I saw it, the poor thing has been in there for about 36 hours now. Initially it had lots of food (the pig guy had salted the trap with lots of rotting lychees just a day before) but these were long gone by early yesterday. We have fed the pig an apple, a sweet potato muffin, and a blob of leftover cookie dough. It rained for a long time last night so the pig may have gotten hydration from that, and I ran a hose into the trap for a while this afternoon, creating some muddy puddles of water that lasted a while (the pig didn’t seem desperately thirsty, as it didn’t drink from the puddles).

I feel terrible for the pig, which at first was frantic - I think she is the mother of the three older piglets. They have not been around, and her udders are not visible, so I think the piglets are old enough to manage. Anyway, the first day mama pig hurled herself against the edges of the cage and seemed anxious to attack if she had a chance. But since I have brought her food and water she no longer goes beserk when I walk by. Or it could just be she is getting tired and resigned.

I wish the pig guy would come. He’s been told by the coconut wire that there’s a pig here, and he has yet to show up (I don’t know how to get in touch with him directly, unfortunately.) So what can I do to keep the pig comfortable until the pig guy comes back? How much food does she need? What should I feed her - it will be table scraps no matter what, but should I focus on veggies, beef, starches, or what? I have some raw sweet potatoes, should I give her some of those?

For anyone thinking, “let the pig out!” that’s something I’d consider, but I don’t know how to do it and it might be unwise, as the pig (really it’s a boar) has lunged aggressively at me sometimes. As a last resort, that’s what I’ll try.

Originally I had wanted some of the pig meat, but I’m sort of changing my mind now. She’s kind of like a pet out there. It’s touching that she is calmer when I approach the cage to give her food now.

Poor piggie :frowning:

2

Pigs, as you know, will eat most anything. Since the pig presumably will be in the trap only a matter of days, it doesn’t much matter what you feed it. Sweet potatoes should be fine, or any other nutritious stuff that’s cheap.

Considering how destructive they are in Hawaii, I would let it out only as an absolute last resort.

3

Sweetie, it’s touching that you think she is becoming used to you and calming down, but it is a lot more likely that she is “calming down” because she is dying, BECAUSE SHE IS TRAPPED IN A BOX.

Sorry for that. I would try to get somebody to let her out. Go to the nearest little town and tell any guy there your story. Someone will be glad to either open the trap or take the trap home .

4

Sorry, that’s ridiculous. A healthy pig that has received food and water won’t be dying after just a day and a half in a cage.

As I said, and as the OP indicates, pigs are extremely destructive to the environment in Hawaii. They are severe pests. That would be a very bad thing to do. It would also probably piss off the pig catcher (although he should have come by to check the trap).

5

I lived in Hawaii. The pigs are everywhere. One pig is not going to matter to the ecosystem. You are advocating leaving a wild animal trapped in a box for what, days? Weeks?

Some local guy (as I advised) IS going to know whether it is right right to either release the pig or take it home for dinner.

6

I would contact

They have the resources and know the right phone numbers. It is also possible they may want to follow-up on the trapper. Trapping pigs; good. Unnecessary cruelty by not checking your traps on a regular basis; bad.

7

Of course I am not advocating leaving it in the cage for weeks. IMO leaving it in there for a couple days is not particularly cruel. Many pets and especially domestic animals are subjected to the same kind of confinement for that length of time, or in the case of domestic animals much longer. And the pig is certainly not dying, as you claimed.

You seem to be losing sight of the fact that the pig was captured specifically in order to kill it and use the meat. This pig is not enduring more than many pigs raised for market.

The guy trapped it in order to smoke the meat, as the OP says. He certainly didn’t catch it in order for someone else to release it. There is an issue in that the guy is irresponsible in not checking his traps more frequently, but why he’s trapping pigs is not in question.

8

I would veto releasing it. As noted, the wild pigs are really doing a number on the land in Hawaii and they are dangerous on top of that.

Call the numbers Kopek posted. In the meantime, it is good of you not to let her suffer. Water is good. A bowl if you can position it, which you can then reach with a hose. Pigs, as mentioned, eat anything, so your table scraps will be fine.

9

Bullet to the back of the head and to the burn pile, if you aren’t going to clean it and eat it.

10

The area where I live has a similar problem with feral swine, and I’ve seen how they destroy crops and natural environment.

Honestly, I’d slip some sort of water pan into the cage and feed the pig one enough pineapple, apples and nuts that it stays healthy and fairly happy, and also tastes that much better when that time comes around.

11

BBQ Sauce.

:smiley:

12

[quote=“Quimby, post:11, topic:788157”]

BBQ Sauce.

No. No. No.

Kalua pig is the bomb.

13

This could be a good chance to get rid of any enemies you have nearby. Just feed them to the pig.

14

Al Swearengen: “You know what to do with him, boys. Take him to Wu’s.”

15

I know - that typo was bothering me too. I didn’t notice it at the time I made it, as “kalau” is a very common word in Indonesian, which I spend a fair bit of time communicating in. But when I read it later, I was distressed.

16

Also, I guess I should give an update, or lack thereof: the pig is still in the cage, and we’re on day 3 so I am getting pretty exasperated. She seems healthy although she had the nerve not to devour the entire sweet potato I cut into large chunks for her this morning. Ungrateful swine! It was a beautiful purple sweet potato - a nice big one, fantastic for cooking into a number of delicious dishes. Oh well, I have more. And she ate some of it, just not all of it at once. I guess it’s a good thing if she isn’t starving.

I now have the phone number for the friend of the tenant who suggested Sam (the pig trapper) and have left a message with her. But she hasn’t called back and Sam is still no where to be seen.

I’m not going to call the authorities kopek suggested just yet, though I greatly appreciate the suggestion. As those of you familiar with more rural Hawaiian areas know, it probably wouldn’t be a great idea for a haolie malihini (outside white person) to call the authorities on a local guy as one of my first official acts while gradually moving in. But I will seek help from them (though I may tell them I don’t know the trapper’s name) if this drags on.

I’ll update the thread when something happens.

17

Any food a person would eat a pig can eat. The real humane issue is water. If it gets enough water it will be fine. But yeah, dick move to set the trap and then not be around. He should have disabled his traps before leaving for a couple days. If you’re concerned you can probably convince somebody from somewhere to come out and shoot it. Don’t let it out, that’s asking for getting your ass kicked by a berserk pig.

18

Legally, who owns the pig in this case?

I’d say to find someone to kill the pig for you and have your own Kālua pig luau. But I know nothing about porcine salvage law in Hawaii.

19

Or the Reverend Billy C Wirtz: Help control the pet and animal population ---- eat at a Chinese Buffet at least once a week. :smiley:

20

Good call on feeding sweetish foods to, basically, finish the meat (like grain-finished steers who are mostly grass-fed before that) and you should get some meat for free for your troubles.

And shame on any trapper who doesn’t come back to check his traps. Guy better have a damn good excuse, or he should lose his trapping permit if such formalities exist.

Reminds me, I haven’t re-watched “Snatch” in a while.:smiley: