Giant boar killed in Alabama

[Jo Dawn]

Hmm... Now I knew that it was a pet. But I heard they sold it to the neighbors, who then didn't want it. So the kid goes and asks if he can kill it and they said yes.

The whole 'feral' thing comes from the fact that there are only two classifications for pigs: domestic and feral. So it could be a pet, but if it's outside, they call it feral.

I heard this on Sunday. Either way, it makes me sick. What lunatic parents would let their kid go kill an innocent animal?

...Bet they'd be really upset if I decided to hunt their kid.

[iris]

Originally Posted by Katie

So, all over the news today I hear this story.....turns out that the big pig was actually named Fred.

Fred was raised on a farm from a little piggy....a gift from the farmer to his wife (a la Wilbur?) Fred WAS a big pig. Nine feet long snout to tail. The farmer and his wife decided that they had enough of raising pigs and sent their heard to slaughter.....all but Fred, who was sold to the owner of the hunting camp as a breeder boar. So what happens? The owner of the camp sends old Fred out to the "wild" with no food for 4 days and finally, he gets shot up by this kid for three hours before he dies.

The people who sold Fred to the camp guy had no idea Fred was the "monster hog" until the game wardens paid them a visit trying to determine Fred's origins. I heard an interview coming home of the farmer's wife who "cried for two days" after hearing Fred died in this manner. Not because she is against hunting or killing of animals (because they are farmers who raise livestock...that's what you do) but because it was sad to her that he died that way and after all, she raised him.

The farmer and his wife felt it was necessary to come forward because of all the news attention that this was the biggest WILD hog ever killed. He was, they said, a domestic animal and it would have been deceitful for them to keep it to themselves.

Now, and this is my opinion, it makes me sick to hear all this. I hated the fact that this pig was killed in one of those stupid hunt camps where the game is penned up with no where to run.....but to find out someone raised him and sold him under the impression that he would be used for breeding and not slaughter. VERY dispicable.

The farmer did shake the kid's hand and assure him that Fred was not a pet and probably was "so big that he needed to be killed" (and I should also say that the slaughter houses that bought the other pigs turned Fred away because he was too big)

So now we know the truth about Fred the Monster Hog.

That's quite a story, Katie. Thanks. Now it makes more sense how a "wild" pig could get that large in Alabama.

The part I don't buy is the idea the farm had no clue what the guy who runs hunt camps would do with the pig. That boar was way too big for breeding.

[Sunshine]

True or not that's awful. I am not a vegitarian or anything. So I am not hypocrytical enough to say that people shouldn't hunt or anything like that. But letting a KID hunt especially from age 5?!? And then letting him chase down that pig for hours? It makes me wish the pig HAD turned around and trampled the kid. It was running for it's life for three hours! I hate people sometimes...

[RaphistheBest]

Originally Posted by Jo Dawn

The whole 'feral' thing comes from the fact that there are only two classifications for pigs: domestic and feral. So it could be a pet, but if it's outside, they call it feral.

The thing about pigs is that they are the one species on the planet that can revert from being domestic to wild in just a few days. If a pig gets out and the farmer goes after it and doesn't catch soon enough the pig is dangerous and it's pretty hard to domesticate them again. I'm sure that the people that owned Fred and raised him didn't realized that it was Fred because the guy who bought Fred let him loose into the woods for days. So even though I'm sure these people saw pictures obviously they didn't recognize him.

...Bet they'd be really upset if I decided to hunt their kid.

Hehe. That's funny.

Now, I'm not someone that yells at people for eating a hamburger but I also don't have any problem with hunting animals and I also wasn't raised in the middle of some woods in a shack and taught that if it has four legs it should be killed. I don't see the problem with this pig being killed. The farmer sold him to a guy that owned a hunting camp so I'm sure the farmer would have figured out what would eventually happen to Fred. Besides that pig was freaking huge. Huge pigs, especially feral ones, are dangerous as hell. Geez, even regular sized feral pigs cause damage and those are dangerous as hell too. And even though this pig was killed it's not like pigs are endangered or something. I'm sure a dozen litters will take Fred's place.

[Katie]

Originally Posted by Sunshine

True or not that's awful. I am not a vegitarian or anything. So I am not hypocrytical enough to say that people shouldn't hunt or anything like that. But letting a KID hunt especially from age 5?!? And then letting him chase down that pig for hours? It makes me wish the pig HAD turned around and trampled the kid. It was running for it's life for three hours! I hate people sometimes...

well...that's not unusual for Alabama. it is like a right of passage for dads and their kids. (my dad doesn't hunt but we did start fishing when I was about three.)

my problem is that it took HOURS for the pig to loose enough blood to die and teh fact that this was a canned hunt. IMHO hunting should put the hunter and the game on even ground and if you do kill something, it should be quick and humane.

this was neither.