Monster Pig was the subject of a controversial 2007 story that initially ran in the news media as a report (and a series of accompanying photographs) of an 11-year-old boy shooting a massive feral pig. The pig was claimed to have been shot during a hunt on May 3, 2007, by an 11-year-old boy named Jamison Stone. The location of the shooting was the Lost Creek Plantation, a commercial hunting preserve outside Anniston, Alabama, US. According to the hunters (there were no independent witnesses), the pig weighed 1,051 pounds (477 kg) and measured 9 feet 4 inches (2.84 m) in length.
The story quickly ran into veracity problems with news organizations backing off on their coverage when inconsistencies in the story were revealed, including NBC, who canceled their interview with the Stone family when they suspected the story was a hoax. [1] It was pointed out right away that the photographs of the pig released to the media seemed to be purposely posed and doctored to exaggerate scale. It was later also revealed that the "giant feral hog" was actually a large domestic farm-raised pig named "Fred" that had been purchased by the hunting preserve's owner four days before the hunt in an apparent publicity stunt. A scheduled 2008 grand jury investigation of the event, based on charges of animal cruelty, was later canceled.
The story, as told by the Stones to the news media, was that on May 3, 2007, 11-year-old Jamison Stone was hunting a huge feral hog with his father Mike Stone along with Keith O'Neal and Charles Williams, owners of Southeastern Trophy Hunters, on a 2,500- acre (1,000 ha ) farm outside of Anniston, Alabama. Jamison told the media they were invited there by a "friend" who told them about a "big hog he had that was tearing up land". [2] The Stones and the other hunters tracked/chased the hog through the woods for over 3 hours and Jamison Stone fired 16 shots with a .50 caliber Smith & Wesson Model 500 [3] revolver equipped with red dot sight [4] shooting 350-grain Hornady cartridges, hitting it nine times before he killed it with a head shot. They hauled the pig by truck to the Clay County Farmers Exchange in Lineville where they used a scale, finding out it weighed 1,050 pounds (480 kg). [5] The hunters also claimed that the pig was 9 feet 4 inches (2.84 m) in length from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail. However, this has not been corroborated by any source.
It was soon revealed that the hunt took place in a 150-acre (60 ha) low fence enclosure within the larger 2,500-acre (1,010 ha) commercial hunting preserve called Lost Creek Plantation.[ citation needed ] A later claim said that Mr Stone had paid $1,500 to Eddy Borden, the owner of Lost Creek Plantation, so that his son could shoot a trophy wild hog in the commercial hunting preserve. [6] Other facts were revealed expanding the controversy around this story.
Several days after the story broke, suspicion mounted over the authenticity of the photographic evidence. Retired New York University physicist Dr. Richard Brandt used perspective geometry to demonstrate that either the pig was 15 feet (4.6 m) long (far bigger than claimed) or the boy in the photo was standing several meters behind the pig, using forced perspective to create the optical illusion that the animal was larger than its actual size. [1] Others claim the photographs were digitally altered. [7]
It has been shown that most of the pictures that were distributed to the media were altered through the use of digital enhancement [8] and perspective [9] to make the pig look much larger than it really was. There were also claims that other photographs (since removed) from Monsterpig.com (a website owned by the Stone family) showed a more normal size/scale for the pig. [1]
Despite the evidence that the images were altered or produced by trick photography, a message was kept on the Stone family website denying that the images had been modified to make the pig look larger than it was. [10]
The Associated Press (AP) continues to keep the monster pig image in their archives with no disclosure of the forced perspective trick; the AP's archive caption presents it as if it is a legitimate photograph, stating: "In this photo released by Melynne Stone, Jamison Stone, 11, poses with a wild pig he killed near Delta, Ala., May 3, 2007. Stone's father says the hog weighed a staggering 1,051 pounds (477 kg) and measured 9 feet 4 inches (2.84 m) from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail. If claims of the animal's size are true, it would be larger than Hogzilla, the huge hog killed in Georgia in 2004."[ citation needed ]
Shortly after the story hit the press, the truth about the origins of the pig was revealed. "Monster Pig" was a domestic hog named "Fred", partly of the Duroc breed, and until four days earlier had lived on a nearby farm. The farm's owners, Rhonda and Phil Blissitt, stated that the pig loved to play with their grandchildren and his favorite treat was canned sweet potatoes. [11] Previous stories reported that the pig had escaped domestication; [12] however, the Blissits in fact sold the pet pig to the game preserve. [13] According to The Anniston Star report, the Blissitts had raised him from a piglet as a pet, but were selling all of the pigs on their farm, and came forward as they were concerned that Fred was being passed off as a wild pig.
As reported by the Associated Press, the problem with the claimed weight of 1,051 pounds (477 kg) was that, according to Jeff Kinder (the man who gave the keys to the scale to the plantation's owner), the scale at the Clay County Coop only weighs in 10-pound (4.5 kg) increments. Thus, the number 1051 is not a possible reading from that scale, making the whole measurement, on its face, incorrect or in part an estimate. When asked about this, the father said he had misunderstood the reading on the scale and believed the true measurement had been 1,060 pounds (480 kg). [14]
Later news reports brought forward allegations that the entire story was the result of a canned hunt scheme cooked up by Eddy Borden, the owner of Lost Creek Plantation, and Keith O'Neal of Southeastern Trophy Hunters, to build up business for the then four-months-old Lost Creek hunting plantation, trying to create their own news event along the lines of the 2004 "Hogzilla" event. Borden purchased "Fred" from the Blissitts for $250, released him into the enclosure, and passed him off as a wild hog to the unsuspecting Stones. [15] It was also reported that they were told by a local TV station that it would only be a news worthy story if the boy shot the pig. [16]
Stinkyjournalism.org also archived this notice from the Southeastern Trophy Hunters website:
LCP is offering a once in a lifetime opportunity to harvest a truly giant boar...Eddy Borden, owner and operator of LCP, has just trapped another boar... this monster will weigh at least a thousand ponds – that is a half ton of pork! The beast is now roaming the worlds of Lost Creek Plantation. We are offering this hunt on a no kill = a no pay basis. The total cost of this hunt is fifteen hundred dollars and includes everything but the processing of the meat. The boar is jet black and has huge tusks. Keith O' Neal and Chris Williams will be on hand to help guide and video this hunt. if you ever wanted to take an animal of this magnitude, now is your chance! this beast will not last long, so if you're interested call us ASAP. Yours in hunting/fishing, Keith O' Neal Southeastern Trophy Hunters, April 28, 2007. [6]
January 29, 2008, saw reports that an Alabama grand jury was investigating Keith O'Neal, Charles Williams, and Lost Creek Plantation owner Eddy Borden, over the killing of the pig on grounds that since there was no "kill shot" delivered by Jamison Stone, [16] it was animal cruelty to allow a pig to be chased and continually shot by an 11-year old until it bled out when there were experienced marksmen present who could have dispatched it. [17] Clay County District Attorney Fred Thompson later cancelled the grand jury without a public explanation, and the case was not reviewed within the one-year statute of limitations. [16]
The wild boar, also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is now one of the widest-ranging mammals in the world, as well as the most widespread suiform. It has been assessed as least concern on the IUCN Red List due to its wide range, high numbers, and adaptability to a diversity of habitats. It has become an invasive species in part of its introduced range. Wild boars probably originated in Southeast Asia during the Early Pleistocene and outcompeted other suid species as they spread throughout the Old World.
Hog-dog rodeo or hog-dogging, is a spectator event that simulates wild or feral boar hunting with dogs. It requires specially trained and bred "hog dogs" that are used to bay and sometimes catch a hog or boar. In most cases, bay dogs psychologically control the pig and no physical contact occurs. In some cases, however, such as Uncle Earl's Hog Dog Trials, along with bay dog events, catch dog events have been included in the past. In these, specially bred and equipped dogs caught and held the hog by the ears before the animals were quickly separated by a person who hog-tied the pig.
Game or quarry is any wild animal hunted for animal products, for recreation ("sporting"), or for trophies. The species of animals hunted as game varies in different parts of the world and by different local jurisdictions, though most are terrestrial mammals and birds. Fish caught non-commercially are also referred to as game fish.
A feral pig is a domestic pig which has gone feral, meaning it lives in the wild. The term feral pig has also been applied to wild boars, which can interbreed with domestic pigs. They are found mostly in the Americas and Australia. Razorback and wild hog are sometimes used in the United States refer to feral pigs or boar–pig hybrids.
A canned hunt is a trophy hunt which is not "fair chase", typically by having game animals kept in a confined area such as in a fenced ranch to prevent the animals' escape and make tracking easier for the hunter, in order to increase the likelihood of the hunter obtaining a kill. The term has been used for driven grouse shooting, in which large areas of Britain are farmed for red grouse. According to WordNet, a canned hunt is a "hunt for animals that have been raised on game ranches until they are mature enough to be killed for trophy collections."
Hogzilla was a notably large male hybrid of wild hog and domestic pig that was shot and killed by Chris Griffin in Alapaha, Georgia, United States, on June 17, 2004, on Ken Holyoak's fish farm and hunting reserve. It was alleged to be 12 feet (3.7 m) long and weighed over 1,000 pounds (450 kg). It was originally widely considered a hoax or urban legend.
A feist is a small hunting dog. This group descended from the terriers brought over to the United States by British miners and other immigrants. These terriers probably included crosses between the Smooth Fox Terrier, the Manchester Terrier, and the now-extinct English White Terrier. These dogs were used as ratters, and gambling on their prowess in killing rats was a favorite hobby of their owners. Some of these dogs have been crossed with Greyhounds, Whippets or Italian Greyhounds, and Beagles or other hounds — extending the family to include a larger variety of purpose than the original ratter, or Rat Terrier.
A hunting license or hunting permit is a regulatory or legal mechanism to control hunting, both commercial and recreational. A license specifically made for recreational hunting is sometimes called a game license.
A man-eater is an individual animal or being that preys on humans as a pattern of hunting behavior. This does not include the scavenging of corpses, a single attack born of opportunity or desperate hunger, or the incidental eating of a human that the animal has killed in self-defense. However, all three cases may habituate an animal to eating human flesh or to attacking humans, and may foster the development of man-eating behavior.
Boar hunting is the practice of hunting wild boar, feral pigs, warthogs, and peccaries. Boar hunting was historically a dangerous exercise due to the tusked animal's ambush tactics as well as its thick hide and dense bones rendering them difficult to kill with premodern weapons.
Rhonda Roland Shearer is an American sculptor, scholar, and journalist, who founded the nonprofit organization Art Science Research Laboratory with her late husband Stephen Jay Gould. The mission statement avows that the lab aims to "infuse intellectual rigor and critical thinking in disciplines that range from Academics to Journalism. ASRL researches conventional beliefs and misinformation and transmits its findings by means of scientific methods and state-of-the-art computer technologies."
Boar–pig hybrid is a hybridized offspring of a cross between the Eurasian wild boar and any domestic pig. Feral hybrids exist throughout Eurasia, the Americas, Australia, and in other places where European settlers imported wild boars to use as game animals. In many areas, a variable mixture of these hybrids and feral pigs of all-domesticated original stock have become invasive species. Their status as pest animals has reached crisis proportions in Australia, parts of Brazil, and parts of the United States, and the animals are often freely hunted in hopes of eradicating them or at least reducing them to a controllable population.
A bay dog is a dog that is specially trained to find, chase, and then bay, or howl, at a safe distance from large animals during a hunt, such as during a wild boar hunt.
National Pig Day is an event held annually on the first day of March in the United States to celebrate the pig. The holiday is most often celebrated in the Midwest of the US. It is not a federal holiday.
The Beast of Bladenboro refers to a creature responsible for a string of deaths amongst Bladenboro, North Carolina animals in the winter of 1953–54. According to witnesses and trackers, it was likely a wildcat species, but its identity was ultimately not definitively confirmed. According to reports, the animal commonly crushed or decapitated its victims, which were mostly dogs.
Pig Hunt is a 2008 American science fiction action horror film directed by James Isaac, it was written by Robert Mailer Anderson and Zack Anderson. In the film, a group faces a monstrous wild boar while trying to survive vengeful rednecks and a deranged cult of hot girls. The film includes several original songs by Les Claypool, who also plays a minor role as the preacher.
American Hoggers is an American reality television series on A&E that debuted October 19, 2011. The series chronicles the lives of the Campbell family whose family business is professional game hunting and animal control specifically the removal of feral hogs in the state of Texas. Season 4 premiered on October 22, 2013.
The sale and consumption of pork is mostly illegal in Pakistan, a Muslim-majority country where halal dietary guidelines are observed. Being 98,1853% Muslim majority makes pork hard to find. Like alcohol however, the meat may be consumed by non-Muslim citizens and foreigners who reside in the country.
Corbin Park is a private game reserve in New Hampshire. It contains land in Croydon, Cornish, Plainfield, and Grantham. It occupies somewhere between 24,000 and 26,000 acres of land and was started in 1889 by businessman Austin Corbin. The park is known today for its secrecy.