Bigger than "Hogzilla!" killed in Alabama

[CrazyIvan007]

I found this on CNN.com on their slideshow:
http://www.wftv.com/slideshow/news/2691965/detail.html

Because that thing gets moved & deleted quickly, I took a screenshot and added the caption to the picture and here it is:
One DAMN big hog!
Pardon the mispelling on "Pig" where I spelled it "Pic" DOH!

http://www.geocities.com/banzaibrothers2002/tmp/BigHog1.jpg

[Musketeer]

It is a big pig but the photo uses a forced perspective technique to make it look much bigger. This is old news. As I understand it the animal was chased for some time while this kid put 11 rounds into it... God forbid someone simply put it down with a rifle when the handgun failed. It is also a domestic gone feral I believe and it was on a "hunt ranch".

[CrazyIvan007]

Most pigs in the wild here in the US are escapee ranch animals.

Either way, I still wouldn't want to see that pig on my nature hike. lol

I am just fascinated how a domesticated ranch pig can return to the wildness of its ancestors so quickly. Supposedly this transformation is the quickest transformation in nature; not only in attitude of the animal, but in physical aspects. It is almost a mutation. Tusks, furr, larger hooves & teeth can appear in just under a month from escaping captivity...amazing to me.

[Fremmer]

Goodness, can you imagine the job it would be to gut that thing......:barf:

[john1911]

Not to be a smarta**, but welcome to 6 months ago. :p

[CrazyIvan007]

Hey Hick News comes slow up here in the North. :)

[FirstFreedom]

We talked about this one awhile back, and the consensus was that it was probably a farm-raised swine, released prior to the "hunt". There was quite a bit of evidence of deception on the part of the promoters/"hunters":

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=248162&highlight=hogzilla

[davlandrum]

I would have to find the follow-up story, but IIRC, when the picture hit the media, the couple who had lost the pig showed up. It had not gone wild, just escaped.

[whiskey]

My dad lives near by where this beast was killed. The pig had been a "farm pet" not a house pet. It was sold to a hunt farm the way I heard it. The pig had a name and the local news had a field day with the story.

I have no doubt that this kid enjoyed the hunt. To me that is the important thing.

I remember reading stories about this "child" receiving death threats from PETA types for killing a "pet".

Here is the story according to the boy and his dad
http://www.monsterpig.com/get_the_truth.htm

[TCman]

He must have been a pretty good shot. Look at the holes in the gut.

[CrazyIvan007]

He must have been a pretty good shot. Look at the holes in the gut.

LOL, Yea, it is such a hard thing to hit such a humungo animal...lol

[CamoCop]

that one still isn't bigger than the one killed here in Florida a couple years back. also the one killed here in Florida wasn't someone's pet that was bought and released for a high priced hunt.

[FrontSight]

sorry to rain on your parade, but there's been a huge uproar over this...turns out it used to be someone's pet, named Fred. Legal pen hunt, but still, the kid shot at it numerous times, hit it way too many to be humane. Pics were doctored to make it look much bigger than it is. Poor kid has been ostracized, wished they had never told anyone. Very sad that the dad would choose to do these things, very bad example for an 11 year old in my opinion and can very well destroy the kid's life from the negative impact.

[king.460]

Another case of giving Alabamians a rogue hillbilly persona.

We're not all that way...

[Double Naught Spy]

Most pigs in the wild here in the US are escapee ranch animals.


With the exception of their cousins, the javelina (not true pigs, but in a different family), all of the pigs in the wild of the US are escapee ranch aimals or are pigs let loose. Heck in Texas in the 1800s, many folks free-ranged pigs, no doubt resulting in many being introduced into the wilds.

[CrazyIvan007]

I'm just fascinated by their ability to quickly and practically mutate back to the form of their ancestors.

[Bigfatts]

From what I heard, the kid and his father didn't know the pig was a farm raised animal. They really thought it was a monster wild hog until the story broke loose.

[Double Naught Spy]

I'm just fascinated by their ability to quickly and practically mutate back to the form of their ancestors.

First, it isn't mutation, but adaptation. Second, they are not going back to their ancestors in mutating, adapting, or devolving. They are simply adapting within their genetic code. Fourth, and which ancestors would they be mutating back to? In looking a suid phylogeny, ancestors of modern pigs come in a variety of sizes, many of which are smaller than their modern counterparts. The fact that many pigs in the wild are large is not that they have reverted to anything. That is farmer breeding. Also, pigs are adaptive. In the pacific islands, historically abandoned pigs left to fend for themselves have developed into much smaller sized pigs than their mainland counterparts.

[CrazyIvan007]

Exactly.

If you go out into the wild, you may grow long hair, lose some teeth and get dirty.

But, how many animals are released or go into the wild, (like a very-short haired pink pig) begin to grow furr, grow tusks and get inscisors sharpened by other teeth? Their hooves harden (yes, we get calusses), they become very aggressive and so much other stuff.

I know it is not a mutation...DUH. I'm just saying the transformation made by a little pink, docile (for the most part) pig when it is put into the wild is amazing.

[CamoCop]

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/bighog.asp

[tomh1426]

What gun was that kid shooting?
How many times did he shoot it?
Seems like alot of gun for a 11 year old

[CrazyIvan007]

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/bighog.asp

LOL, They propped the scoop of that front loader up with cinder blocks. :D

Thanks for the link, it about clears it up.

[elrod]

What gun was that kid shooting?

S&W 500

How many times did he shoot it?

I believe it was 16. Don't hold me to that, but I recall he had to reload at least twice.

[Double Naught Spy]

Yes, it wasn't what most hunters would consider to be a clean kill at all. There seemed to be shots all over it.

[JKump]

Just a side note. Of all domestic animals, the pig/hog goes feral the fastest.

[Art Eatman]

JKump, I'd argue that it's the sweet lil house-variety kitty-cat. They're feral from the moment they exit the door.

But we've done that subject on many other threads, although not the general issue of "ferality". :D

Art