“Monster Pig” the hog (story) that wouldn’t die!
Even folks who were living under a rock last year probably heard about “Monster Pig”. You know, the half-ton pork chop (AKA “Fred”) on the hoof that was killed by young Jamison Stone with a Smith and Wesson .500 (after umpteen shots)… Alabama’s answer to Hogzilla? You also probably remember the big to-do about really nothing, as it turned out that the kid was hunting inside a little enclosure, and the pig had left the comfort of its farmyard only days before.
Like most of the world, I turned my back on this one almost as fast as it came up. I was shocked that it generated the publicity it did, but I attributed that mostly to a sensation-starved but hunting-ignorant public. I figured it was over, but today; as I was reading over on Kevin Paulson’s Hunting Life blog, I learned that the story is far from over. Like poor old Fred, running around that 150 acre pen with at least eight 50-caliber slugs in it for over three hours, it just refuses to die!
Anyway, Kevin was able to talk to Rhonda Shearer, a journalistic ethics advocate who has been following this story since it broke. She allowed him to republish the article she wrote for ESPN and her own site. I’ll let you go on over to Kevin’s site and read about it, or you can read it directly from Ms Shearer’s site at StinkyJournalism.org.
It’s pretty enlightening stuff, all about greed and how a few unscrupulous characters manipulated the media in order to generate a guaranteed headline story. Unfortunately, their plan misfired, resulting in international criticism and the derision of hunters and anti-hunters alike. But worse, it has also apparently resulted in the boy, 11 years old at the time, facing possible criminal charges for animal cruelty.
It raises the same question for me as it apparently does for Shearer… is the boy to blame, or is he as much a victim as “Fred” the hog? Go over and have a read. Then drop your two cents in the bucket with everyone else.
As I said over at Hunting life I think it is pretty pitiful that these adults made these choices and this kid will have to deal with the repercussions for the rest of his life. I’m thinking there wasn’t a ton of thought process that went into this hunt and it’s too bad that the boy is the victim.
I hope that someone is held accountable and I hope they get exactly what they deserve.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:05 pm
As a hunter, this is a story that while it just won’t die, you kind of hope it does die and just goes away. At the same time it is kind of like a giant car wreck, you just cant really look away as you are driving by.
I hope Jamison learns something from this and it really proves that we all need to get back out there and teach our youth the traditions of hunting and respect for the animals we all hunt.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I read the article, and I thought the adults in the story came off looking very shady. The kid, I’m guessing, was an innocent who was used simply because he was a kid.
My hope is that the adults are punished for what they did. I also, like Kevin, hope that the boy learns something from this experience, something other than, perhaps, the fact that he shouldn’t always trust the adults around him.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:52 pm
David and Concerned and even Rhonda Shearer all make some compelling and valid arguments.
But an 11 year old boy is still developing mentaly and physicaly and there is not even a small argument here as to whether he should be held accountable concerning his ethics or responsibility to the situation!!!!
“All” of the adults involved are profiting from an innocent kid, from Rhonda Shearer all the way down to the bottom.
But Kevin, you said it best when you said that “you just kinda hope it dies and goes away”
February 1st, 2008 at 7:47 am
[...] the huge domestic hog taken by 12 year-old Jamison Stone with the Smith and Wesson 500. My last write-up on the topic that won’t go away referenced Rhonda Shearer’s reports on her Stinky Journalism [...]
May 5th, 2008 at 6:03 am
[...] California Hunting Today Monster Pig Page [...]
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:14 pm
[...] probably remember the fiasco around the Monster Pig, or Pigzilla… which I also referred to in previous posts as “Jamison’s Folly”. In those earlier write-ups, I referenced a website called [...]
July 6th, 2009 at 9:29 am