Slaughter
In Michigan, some law went into effect regarding invasive species. Somehow, this means that open range pigs with certain hair color are illegal. So, the DNR has taken armed SWAT team to hog farmers’ land and conducted felony raids. Some farmers shot their own pigs to avoid a felony rap.
Update: Via email, someone said the claims are not consistent with the law. And that it is possible these were actually hunting preserves, which is a far cry from farmer. And also not legal.
April 17th, 2012 at 9:29 am
Unless I’m missing something this only targets uncontained pigs. Keep ’em fenced in and you’re fine.
We’re starting to see a feral pig problem up here in MI, at least according to the DNR, so letting farmers keep pigs that aren’t contained isn’t an option anymore.
April 17th, 2012 at 9:31 am
I don’t think open range pigs are feral.
April 17th, 2012 at 9:33 am
I read the “9 indicators that you might be a feral pig” They just need to start calling them “Assault Pigs”
April 17th, 2012 at 9:36 am
I’ve read several arguments that whatever the original purpose of this law is, it’s been manipulated by the companies running the big factory farms to create legal hassles for the smaller operations that compete with them.
April 17th, 2012 at 9:38 am
Could be. But someone emailed he thought they were running a game preserve instead.
April 17th, 2012 at 9:45 am
If I were voting in Michigan, I’d adopt Illinois’s law that non-native species are not protected, so open season all the way around, like coyotes, except if you’re trespassing. Down in the bayou, I’ve seen people adopt feral pigs and spraypaint PET in red on them. The only criterion I know between feral pig and tame pig is where they go for food.
April 17th, 2012 at 10:13 am
Pigs shooting pigs… No irony there…
April 17th, 2012 at 11:07 am
nk – I doubt milk cows, goats, sheep, chickens, house cats and dogs are native. Open season on all?
April 17th, 2012 at 11:14 am
Well, no, I said I’d be voting. Depends on how much of a nuisance they become, or how much we want to protect them. For one example, mustangs were not protected unti 1971(?). Before that, farmers killed them and boiled them down for hogfeed.
April 17th, 2012 at 1:49 pm
On the other hand, the only sources for this I’ve seen have been places like “NaturalNews”, who I wouldn’t trust to tell me the color of the sky.
April 17th, 2012 at 3:18 pm
Having the links to vids from Alex Jones doesn’t help their credibility.
April 17th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Well, if you’re going to bitch about the sources, riddle me this: Do you really, truly believe the larger media would cover this kind of statist bullshit? Of course not. And that’s even before the DNR used a FUCKING SWAT TEAM to raid people for something like this.
April 17th, 2012 at 5:27 pm
I started reading the article and noticed it was from “Alex Jones”. AKA “Prison Planet” and “Infowars”. Alex is in the Austin area and a KNOWN whack-job. ANYTHING he says, including the sun rises in the East, must be confirmed from two or more RELIABLE sources.
April 17th, 2012 at 5:35 pm
What on the hell was a SWAT team needed for a pig farm/game preserve? Wayyyy too happy to play door cowboy.
April 17th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
According to Hit and Run:
http://reason.com/blog/2012/04/17/the-unsavory-alliance-of-big-government
The state government has decided that members of the Michigan Pork Producers Association are exempt from the feral pig order. Again, this appears to be about the big producers manipulating regulations to drive their smaller competitors out of business.
April 17th, 2012 at 9:28 pm
The story seems OK, despite the source (I had never heard of naturalnews.com, but looking at a couple of the other stories there I dount I will rely on them for much).
Thank you “Stormy Dragon” for cites I do trust.
Not sure if it was more than legislators writing too broadly – which I suspect – or if larger operations not only support it now but actually instigated it.
And a “feral” pig is not really a domestic pig that has escaped, but its descendants – other areas in the country have the problem and those succeeding generations are dangerous.
April 18th, 2012 at 7:53 am
“I doubt milk cows, goats, sheep, chickens, house cats and dogs are native. Open season on all?”
Dude, that’s huge. Biblical (and with the dogs and cats, Koranic). The history of rustlin’ and maverick strays goes right back to when we stopped gathering berries and settled down to plant grain (according to Prof Katz, to make beer). Pocket timeline of Civilisation. And its Discontents.
They tend to avoid hogs in the Middle East, and this may be why. For obscure reasons, Glenn Ford developed a film fascination in the late 60’s with sheep-vs-cattle wars. Made a flock of ’em. Wonder how he’d have done with lonesome frontier swineherds. Same hat?
And, do Razorback Regulators get a stinking badge?
April 18th, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Will all of the recent pig death help to drive down the cost of bacon? One can only hope.
DWH