Farmers: 'Monster Pig' Not a Wild Hog, But Was Their Pet Pig 'Fred'

FoxNews ^ | June 1st, 2007 | AP

[aft_lizard]

FRUITHURST, Ala. — The Mystery of the Monster pig appears to have been solved.

The 1,051-pound hog, shot and killed by 11-year-old Jamison Stone and the subject of a world-wide Web firestorm over the photo's authenticity, really is...

Fred.

That's "Fred" the pig, and according to Rhonda and Phil Blissitt their humongous hog escaped on April 29, four days before it was killed, according to the Star newspaper.

Late Thursday evening, their claims were confirmed by Andy Howell, Game Warden for the Alabama Department of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries.

"I didn't want to stir up anything," Rhonda Blissitt said. "I just wanted the truth to be told. That wasn't a wild pig."

Her husband agreed.

"If it went down in the record book, it would be deceiving, and we'd know that for the rest of our lives."

The monster hog gained worldwide acclaim after he was bagged by 11-year-old Jamison Stone, a Pickensville native, with a .50-caliber pistol on May 3 at the Lost Creek Plantation, LLC, a hunting preserve in Delta. The big boar was hunted inside a large, low-fence enclosure and fired upon 16 times by Stone, who struck the animal nearly a half-dozen times during the three-hour hunt.

[aft_lizard]

Ok I am all for hunting, but this doesn't sit right for me. It's not the hunters fault though it seems but rather that Borden guy who uses farm animals for hunting, thats just not right. Those animals have had alot of there wildness bred out of them and so they aren't much of a 'game', it's kind of like shooting fish in a barrel. This also reminds me of when Bobby Hill went to the hunting farm so he could become a man.

[hershey]

Disgusting. Appalling. Reminds me of an incident a few years ago during hunting season when an idiot hunter stopped in the road to shoot a pet mallard.

[LaineyDee]

Those animals have had alot of there wildness bred out of them and so they aren't much of a 'game', it's kind of like shooting fish in a barrel.

Which answers why the pig didn't turn and charge the kid...

[Vision]

That's "Fred" the pig, and according to Rhonda and Phil Blissitt their humongous hog escaped on April 29, four days before it was killed, according to the Star newspaper.

[LeoWindhorse]

damn! so Michael Moore didn’t buy the farm afterall?...

[VOA]

bump

[aft_lizard]

Not long ago, they decided to sell off all of their pigs. Eddy Borden, owner of Lost Creek Plantation, purchased Fred.

[AmericaUnited]

I guess you missed “their humongous hog escaped “.

The kid didn’t shoot it in their backyard.

[Vigilanteman]

Depending on how the game preserve presented itself, the kid and his family might have a case thinking they were hunting a wild hog who turned out to be a pet sold for that purpose. It certainly cheapens the achievement beyond measure.

[elizabetty]

It's not the hunters fault though it seems but rather that Borden guy who uses farm animals for hunting, thats just not right.

I don't get that. The article says he escaped from his enclosure. You think the guy running the hunting camp captured him?

[Vision]

And your point is?

[Osage Orange]

Pretty hard to stop a 1K lb. hog....from busting thru fences..and entering someone's private hunting area.

FWIW- I'm a big "Open range, Fair chase" hunter...and would never hunt a "Canned Hunt".

But...if the facts are that this hog just busted out of it's owner's pen...and ended up in a game farm. He's fair game....as far as I can see.

[aft_lizard]

You missed the part where they said they sold the pig to the guy who runs the hunting farm.

[U S Army EOD]

Michael Moore was there and ate Fred in one sitting. MSM does not want you to know about that.

[DemEater]

I was flipping channels last night and caught Jack Hannah on ‘gulp’ Olberman talking about the pig. He said he doubted that a wild pig could ever get that big. He said somebody must have been feeding it.

[cripplecreek]

Wonderful lesson to teach the kid. Deception gets attention.

[DemEater]

Ah, the canned hunt that makes vice heads of state feel manly.

[aft_lizard]

Read the whole story and not just what I have on here. They sold the pig to the guy who runs the plantation. He purchased a pig known that it was bred in captivity and then used it for people to hunt.

[cbkaty]

No..it’s FRED Ziffle...the pig is Arnold Ziffle....right?

[Osage Orange]

I stand corrected..........

I failed to read the whole story.

The operator...ought to be ashamed.

My apologies to you.......

[aft_lizard]

To dispel your point, they went further on in that article to say that the pig was sold to the plantation and the plantation owner used the pig to be hunted.

[17th Miss Regt]

That's "Fred" the pig,...

I would have renamed it Mohammed.

[JRochelle]

The couple say ‘Fred’ escaped and then they say they sold him.

That doesn’t add up.

[DanielLongo]

The worst is when they get out of their pen and head for the microphones! The humanity!

[cbkaty]

Arnold

Fred....

[thackney]

Their web site is still claiming a Feral Hog

http://monsterpig.com/

[aft_lizard]

I agree. Either way they knew what it’s ultimate use was going to be for. I don’t like canned hunts, especially ones of semi-domesticated animals.

[JRochelle]

Mohammed? Pig?

O.K.

http://aarons.cc/

[To Hell With Poverty]

“Run Fred run!” indeed... ;’)

[Misterioso]

So you are offended when fish & game stocks lakes and streams with farm-grown trout?

[Osage Orange]

Oh, my eyes!!!

[Daffynition]

If anyone in this hunting party is named "Sue" ...I swear I'm going to bust a gut!

[Vision]

That's "Fred" the pig, and according to Rhonda and Phil Blissitt their humongous hog escaped on April 29, four days before it was killed, according to the Star newspaper.

"Not long ago, they decided to sell off all of their pigs. Eddy Borden, owner of Lost Creek Plantation, purchased Fred."

Poorly written article? The devil is in the details. Did Fred escape or was he sold?

[elizabetty]

Oh, I thought that was it. Shame.

[Crawdad]

I hear the guy is passing off Longhorn cows as giant spike bucks.

[RightWhale]

My uncle had a hog about that size, well penned. When it decided to move, such as climb the side of the enclosure where it got stuck right away, it got everybody’s attention. Moving that when it isn’t cooperating is quite a technical feat.

[Osage Orange]

So you are offended when fish & game stocks lakes and streams with farm-grown trout?

I actually can see a difference.....maybe a big difference depending on your belief system.

This hog apparently was hand fed....and used to humans? Maybe partly a pet??? I'm not sure...

But in my pea-brain there's a difference there.......

[freekitty]

That terrible. How could these guys do that.

[aft_lizard]

No.

[freekitty]

Had a 2600 bull. It never got out. It can be done.

[stainlessbanner]

Somebody had a post to outdoorlife or something that dispelled the myth. A domestic pig might look like a wild hog in the woods.

All the reports I read about the Alabama boys hunt say "if the reports are correct"...

[Hot Tabasco]

You shot my pet pig!!!

[aft_lizard]

I want to hear Borden’s view. It actually could be that the pig escaped from his breeding area that Borden had for him. Either way the ultimate demise for the pig was to be hunted(if i read what the first owners said was correct, breeding then hunted).

[Vision]

I agree, maybe he escaped but they got him back and later sold him. I didn’t see that because Fred was their pet, and who sells their pet to be hunted? I used to be a serious bowhunter and I know from talking to Texas bowhunters that wild pigs don’t get this big usually.

[eyedigress]

Your right about the moral of this issue.

While Rhonda Blissitt was somewhat in the dark about the potential demise of her pet, Phil Blissitt said he was under the understanding that it would breed with other female pigs and then "probably be hunted."

"We were told that it was a feral hog," Mike Stone said, "and we hunted it on the pretense that it was a feral hog."

[RightWhale]

The hog jumped his forelegs onto the top of the railing and got stuck and panicked. We were concerned with possible injury to the animal, it was a blue-ribbon quality; it never came close to breaking out, but the pen should have been a couple feet higher, no question.

[Don Carlos]

Sooo, if the pig was a farm animal, does that make the pork chops good eatin?

[Hot Tabasco]

I don’t like canned hunts, especially ones of semi-domesticated animals.

I don't either........I would rather spend 4 days in Kansas during pheasant season walking fields all day long and end up empty handed than to go to a "pheasant farm" which are kinda popular here in Michigan just so I can shoot one.

[Born to Conserve]

I think it’s creepy to stand around with high powered rifles while a spoiled kid plinks at the animal for hours. Un sporting. I wish the pig had given those “hunters” something to remember with its tusks.

[kaboom]

Someone might also want to take this kid to the range once in a while, or get him a weapon that he can aim.

fired upon 16 times by Stone, who struck the animal nearly a half-dozen times

The pig wasn't the broadside of a barn, but close.