# Would pigs eat a human being? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787 "2010-02-28T23:51:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/21 "2010-03-01T22:51:59Z")
> [@Umbriel2](#): > > I suspect that pigs’ man-eating habits, and the tendency of crustaceans to consume corpses in the ocean, are among the reasons both ended up on the non-kosher list. > > 'course, I guess there are technically no such prohibitions on vultures and jackals, so there are some gaps there… but it’s my theory, which belongs to me! Thank you, Miss Elk. Do you have any other theories? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/22 "2010-03-01T23:16:52Z")
> [@Umbriel2](#): > > \… but it’s my theory, which belongs to me! But what’s your theory on [Brontosauruses](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAYDiPizDIs)? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/23 "2010-03-01T23:17:57Z")
:smack: Just saw someone beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/24 "2010-03-01T23:34:11Z")
> [@Umbriel2](#): > > 'course, I guess there are technically no such prohibitions on vultures and jackals, so there are some gaps there… but it’s my theory, which belongs to me! There are prohibitions on both jackals and vultures. Jackals don’t cloven hooves, so they are non-kosher. The vulture, along with all the other raptors, is unclean. > [@Gagundathar](#): > > … but your hypothesis makes a great deal more sense to me, especially when combined with the prohibition against shellfish. Except that there is no prohibition against shellfish _per se_. There is a prohibition against all sea life that lacks scales and fins. While that includes shellfish it also includes eels, porpoises and jellyfish amongst many others. At the end of the day trying to find reasons for the Jewish dietary laws is silly. there is no logic to them. The law allows people to eat notorious scavengers such as carp, while they are unable to eat perfectly clean, non scavenging animals such as dolphins clams. It excludes pigs as food, but it equally excludes horses and camels, which are not noted for their scavenging habits. There’s no sense in the laws. It’s just a a case of God said it so you’re supposed to do it. Logic does not apply. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/25 "2010-03-02T01:51:17Z")
> [@Umbriel2](#): > > I suspect that pigs’ man-eating habits, and the tendency of crustaceans to consume corpses in the ocean, are among the reasons both ended up on the non-kosher list. > > 'course, I guess there are technically no such prohibitions on vultures and jackals, so there are some gaps there… but it’s my theory, which belongs to me! I very much doubt that Abraham (or Moses or whoever it was) was very fluent on the dietary habits of crustaceans. ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/26 "2010-03-02T02:32:07Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Wow! That’s a great load off me mind. Now, if you wouldn’t mind telling me who the fuck you are, apart from someone who feeds people to pigs of course! Do you know what “nemesis” means? (I love that movie, I really do.) ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/27 "2010-03-02T03:24:22Z")
> [@UncleFred](#): > > Do you know what “nemesis” means? > > (I love that movie, I really do.) It means you have a younger clone on a another starship that wants to kill you and your planet. 😛 My family has had hogs for the past few years for my brother’s FFA stuff. They’re friendly and like people, but I wouldn’t want to get in between them and their corn when it’s time to eat. We now have a pot bellied pig. It’s a lot smaller, but it’s still very aggressive when it’s time to eat. I don’t put my fingers near her mouth. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/28 "2010-03-02T03:36:13Z")
I don’t know how anybody who grew up in a reasonably Westernized home could possibly not know that pigs can eat a person. I learned this by the age of four, from [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iErRYP1CXzo&feature=related) [go to 2:45]. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/29 "2010-03-02T04:00:32Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > There’s no sense in the laws. It’s just a a case of God said it so you’re supposed to do it. Logic does not apply. That’s begging the question. If the laws are made by man, a society decided at some point that some animals were clean and some aren’t, and gave it the force of a divine command. The question is why they chose some and not others. This is a matter of much discussion amongst anthropologists and can’t be glibly dismissed as illogical. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Elk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Anne\_Elk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Elk)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/30 "2010-03-02T09:45:25Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > But what’s your theory on [Brontosauruses](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAYDiPizDIs)? As a matter of fact I do. They are not at all like pigs:) And to Umbriel2, GET OFF MY LAWN! ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/31 "2010-03-02T18:15:47Z")
Well we have plenty of examples of hogs eating dead humans. (A common wartime event from all accounts.) And at least one example of a small child being killed and eaten. Do we have any examples of a live, healthy adult being attacked and eaten by domesticated hogs? I have never heard of such, and based on my own experience with hogs I would be surprised to learn of any such event. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/32 "2010-03-02T18:32:57Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > There is a prohibition against all sea life that lacks scales and fins. While that includes shellfish it also includes eels, porpoises and jellyfish amongst many others. _My hovercraft is full of eels!_ You can tell the quote is not from Robert Pickton. In the end, he was convicted on the fact that they found evidence of the women he had fed to pigs. Apparently, the BC government hired almost every archaeology student they could find for a year. Their job was to sift through a mountain of pig manure, looking for teeth. (“Four years of college for this?”) Apparently the pigs ate like… well… pigs, and didn’t chew hard enough to destroy the evidence. They found DNA in enough teeth to convict him of over a dozen specific murders, although testimony suggests the number of victims fed to the hogs was around 50. – If you ever saw the movie “A Private Function” the illegal pig being raised by the villagers was fed anything and everything, from dead rats to toenail clippings. Just don’t feed you housepet pig rhubarb! (Unless you have a grandmother to blame the smell on…) ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/33 "2010-03-02T19:40:17Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > “Ajay’s skull, eyes, face and torso had been ripped open and eaten. Only his limbs could be recovered.” Wow, that is sad. Everyone knows that drumsticks and wings are the best part! ---
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/34 "2010-03-02T20:31:47Z")
> [@hellpaso](#): > > A paternal relative of mine was eaten by pigs (at least partially). This was in the 40s, and the story was that he was feeding the pigs and had a heart attack or some such debilitating event. It was a short time before he was discovered. What did they do with the pigs? Kill them, sell them, or eat them? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/35 "2010-03-02T20:52:20Z")
Hmm. I guess Dorothy was lucky that the hired hands were standing by when she fell off the rail into the pig pen. Or else the 1939 **Wizard of Oz** would’ve been only about 5 minutes long. Miss Gulch: I’m here to see Dorothy about that dog of hers Auntie Em: Dorothy’s gone! ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/36 "2010-03-03T05:19:57Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > _My hovercraft is full of eels!_ > > You can tell the quote is not from Robert Pickton. \ So is mine, and [I have a question for you](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0CFCf7An2Q), because my nipples are exploding! ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/37 "2010-03-03T07:14:44Z")
Feeding a pig a person would seriously damage its growth, according to Whiffle’s _On the Care of the Pig_. ---
**Author:** ![Carptracker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac91a4/32.png) [@Carptracker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carptracker)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/38 "2010-03-13T05:34:36Z")
Someone said that pigs are not particularly fast. I beg to differ, at least over the very short distance. I once watched my sow (which I was already justifiably terrified of) catch and devour my cousin’s grandmother’s large tabby cat. That pig moved VERY fast. I was glad when that pig was bacon. ---
**Author:** ![Notassmartasithought](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c0e974/32.png) [@Notassmartasithought](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Notassmartasithought)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/39 "2010-03-13T07:14:16Z")
Just read enough Matt Scudder novels by Lawrence Block, and you’ll be rewarded with the answer, and much, much more. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787/40 "2010-03-14T03:29:57Z")
> [@Notassmartasithought](#): > > Just read enough Matt Scudder **novels** by Lawrence Block, and you’ll be rewarded with the answer, and much, much more. I just highlighted a key word there. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pigs-eat-a-human-being/530787.md?page=3)