Feral pigs - another reason not to live in Georgia
February 18th, 2007 by md
I took a vacation in Hawaii once about 10 years ago — on the island of Kauai. Very beautiful place. I went on a hike while I was there one of the park rangers or something told me to watch out for feral pigs. They are apparently very dangerous. The folks I was traveling with and I thought this was really funny and we imagined Babe gone wild. We even made a joke of it by throwing rocks into the bushes along the trail and screaming “WEEEEE WEEEEEE WEEEEEE!” like Ned Beatty in Deliverance to scare each other. You know like a feral pig was coming out of the forest to spear us. It was funny. Actually it was me that was doing the rock throwing and the pig sound effects.
I liked the notion of the feral pig so well, that I found a way to integrate it into my radio commercials for these stores I ran in LA a few years later. I can’t remember exactly what the ad said, but I got a kick out of it. Did I mention that the stores went out of business? Well, it certainly wasn’t because the feral pig was bad content for an advertisement. 
So that was the last time I really thought about feral pigs. Until today.
I learned today that feral pigs are found in many other parts of the country. In particular, southern Georgia is a feral pig haven. For example, a few years ago a hunter killed one which had been named “Hogzilla.” Hogzilla weighed 800 pounds and was something like 7 feet from snout to tail. You would think that this is pretty freaking big enough; it was in fact the largest feral pig captured up to that date. However, on January 3, 2007, someone named William Coursey shot and killed “Son of Hogzilla,” a feral pig that was more than 1100 pounds. Here’s a picture:
I forgot to mention that this creature was in his neighbor’s FRONT YARD. It doesn’t need to be said, but I will say it anyway: it is unacceptable to live in a town where feral pigs that are this large can be found in anyone’s front yard. Actually, I take it back — feral pigs are unacceptable period, unless they are smaller than Eeyore and are wearing a pink and red striped shirt.
Read more about feral pigs here. And here.
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What about getting a baby feral pig and testing out the nature versus nurture debate? I think with your care, grooming and science education, you could have a great, sociable, smart pet!
I think you are right. I am going to think about this. The problem I see is the size of these things. There isn’t room in the house for something 8 feet long and 1100 pounds. Perhaps I should keep the pig in a box to restrict its growth.
Or genetically modify it to be a bonsai feral pig.
[…] I don’t know why feral pigs are so interesting. To me, the pictures of them lying next to their killers are oddly compelling. I wrote about Hogzilla a while back and saw this AP story on Drudgereport today (one of the best sites on earth.) Truly a shocking story and image. I can’t wait for the Hogzilla movie they mention in the story. […]