Porcine Press – Around the World in 80 Words (or more) Edition
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a new edition of the Porcine Press, but thanks to NorCal Cazadora for sending me a little note and spurring this latest listing of pig tales. Besides, I didn’t want the Hog Blog to become the Lead Ammo Ban Chronicles. There’s more to life than chasing a spurious legislative decision.
So anyway, Holly sent me an email asking if I’d read this little gem in the UK’s Telegraph online. The article describes a rampage by a group of hog hunting renegades, apparently, in the northwestern part of Queensland. For whatever reason, these folks decided to high-tail it across the countryside, smashing through fences and destroying property on several farms in the process. Allegedly the group had hog-dogs on board, and were out to hunt pigs. The police gave chase to the tresspassers before backing off of their trail out of safety concerns, but the chase was soon rejoined when a local farmer (and victim of the vandals) offered the use of his small aircraft to track them down. It’s a strange tale, and hard to understand from the sketchy report… but there ya go.
The article above doesn’t give much motive for the renegade rampage, but maybe this article on the Pig Progress website has a possible answer. Apparently wild pork is selling well in the Land Down Under, while domesticated pork sales are really dropping off. Hog hunters are paying for their hunts and their equipment by selling their spoils. This looks to be a good market as well, since the report also mentions that wild boar now outnumber humans on the continent. What really dropped my jaw here wasn’t the article, though… it was the website itself. Pig Progress is a site for pig-related news. Granted, it’s almost all about pig farming, not wild hogs, but I was simply amazed by the variety of topics, news, and discussions on the site. I guess I never thought about it, but man…!
Moving on around the globe, we find ourselves back in the UK where the following article in the UK Times Online describes the growing trend of wild boar hunting in England and Scotland. Wild boar were pretty much eradicated from the British Isles over 300 years ago, but as we’ve noted before in the Porcine Press, the animals are making a steady comeback. At this time, wild hogs (boar, feral pigs, etc.) are not protected as game animals under English law, so landowners can shoot them on sight (as long as they’re on the private property). However, until now, apparently no one has considered going after them on a bigger scale. Well, that’s all changing now as at least two large drives have been conducted with considerable success (in secretive locations to thwart the anti-hunting element). The drives went over so well that the hunts will likely become a commercial enterprise.
Of course, in a country that has had such uproar over hunting vs animal rights, and where the recent ban on fox-hunting has been the subject of such clamour, you can pretty much predict the outpouring of enmity and venom from the anti-hunting front.
Groups opposed to hunting were horrified at the development. A spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports said: “It beggars belief that people actually get pleasure out of the mass slaughter of animals. Anyone participating in this kind of institutionalised killing has to be sick.”
And a spokeswoman for the Born Free Foundation said that flushing the boar would cause “confusion and panic” in the animals. “It is inhumane to treat wild or farm animals in this fashion,” she stated.
Great stuff, what?
Not to put too much time on that one, as I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from across the pond, we’ll move back to the Colonies and the great state of South Carolina. The South Carolina Game and Fish magazine published this article with great tips and information on hunting hogs in the Palmetto State. I’ve hunted hogs in SC a time or two, and keep biding my time until I get a chance to return. Last time I went, hog hunts were relatively cheap and easy to get onto. This may be changing soon, though, as the popularity of the hunts increases.
The data compiled by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) backs up the concept that hog hunting is on the increase. As part of the overall survey for the annual Deer Harvest Report, they also have data on wild hog harvest.
Charles Ruth, Deer and Turkey Project Coordinator for the SCDNR, noted there was a significant increase in the hog harvest from 2005 to 2006.
“During 2006, an estimated 26,843 wild hogs were harvested by deer hunters in South Carolina,” Ruth said. “That’s a 15.8 percent increase from 2005 when 23,166 hogs were harvested. Evidence of the presence of hogs in 42 of 46 counties was made by hunter harvest activities versus 38 of 46 counties in 2005.
Now, for our last tidbit we’ll zoom all the way around the world to Malaysia for an article straight from the “This is gonna leave a mark” bin.
A Malaysian man was shot in the crotch after his brother-in-law mistook him for a wild boar, reports said Thursday.
Now, I’m not sure what happened here, and not even sure I wanna know. It should never be funny when a hunter “accidentally” shoots another person. But this one is about as ripe for the picking as the joke tree gets.
And that’s it for this edition of the Porcine Press.
Dude, I LOVE the Lead Ammo Ban Chronicles!
But this is fun too. I have so much to say about that last item, but this being a public website, I think I’ll refrain…
January 29th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Ahh.. go for it, Holly. Might liven things up around here.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
After you meet me this weekend, let me know if you still think it’s wise for me to let my hair down on the Internet.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Generally, what happens in the UK takes 10 to 20 years before it reaches our shores. I think the “liberals” will never stop their assault on guns and our hunting rights!
January 29th, 2008 at 2:11 pm