so this isn't a hog filled wi tannreite? damn...
By Chuck McCollough Bulletin Staff Writer | Posted: Wednesday, February 27, 2019 12:00 pm
The popular Wild Hog Explosion fundraiser will go through a change this year while it also copes with a barrage of criticism from a loose-knit animal rights organization that sees it as inhumane to the pigs at the center of the show and wants it closed down.
“The Wild Hog Explosion is a festival in Bandera, Tx centered around disrespect and abuse of wild pigs,” reads an account of the festival by a group called Unparalleled Suffering that organized a petition drive against the festival on Facebook and through the online site change.org.
“Pigs are trapped in the wild, have their tusks ripped out and are then brought into and used and abused for this event – babies, children and adult pigs,” the account continues. “This event desensitizes children to violence and teaches them that might makes right and that we can discriminate against and harm others if they are a different species than our own.”
“In 2019, how are humans still abusing animals for entertainment. Please ask the Bandera Chamber of Commerce to help cancel this event by signing this petition and writing them an email and/or giving them a phone call,” the organization encourages it supporters.
The organization started bombarding the chamber, the City of Bandera, Bandera County Library officials and others with calls and emails arguing that the event was cruel and should be stopped, but it hasn’t found much support locally.
Bandera Mayor Suzanne Schauman said she had received about 40 emails from protestors who argued the pigs in the show were being abused, but she said she disagreed with that assessment and believed the community did as well.
“I don’t want to seem like I don’t care about the pigs, but I don’t think they are being abused,” she said.
The event, being held in 2019 for the 17th time, is a major fundraiser for the Bandera County Library. It will continue to be involved this year but has signed a one-year agreement with the Warriors Heart treatment center for veterans, military personnel and first responders to manage most of the event this year.
It is planned for March 16, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Mansfield Park, 2886 Highway 16 North outside of Bandera.
The event involves a pig being released into a ring where several youngsters if they are young enough or teams of two when they get older try to catch the fleeing animal, put it in a burlap bag and drag it across the finish line in the shortest amount of time they can.
John Pearce, vice president of the library’s board, said he and other library officials have gotten calls and emails from protestors but believe those callers have been misinformed about how the event is run.
The pigs get plenty of water, are kept in the shade before they are released into the pen and never are re-released into the pen after being used in the contest the first time.
“They are handled with as much respect as farm animals, if not more,” said Pearce.
He said the 13 protestors who have contacted library officials were from out of state and had never attended the event.
He actually talked to two of the protestors, and they did not want to have a conversation about how the event was handled. They just repeated the basic talking points that the protestors laid out originally, Pearce said.
He said he had not heard of anyone locally who endorsed the protestors’ claims. Pearce said he hoped to see another successful fundraiser this year.
That will be with Warriors Heart as the operator of all the events at the festival except Bacon Bingo, which the library will continue to operate and benefit from financially.
The amount of labor involved in putting on the festival convinced the library to see if a partner could help with the event. It decided that Warriors Heart, which has been a sponsor who helped with the event in the past, was the best group to offer management duties to.
The one-year agreement between the two parties commits Warriors Heart to paying a consultant-like fee to the library to take advantage of its experience in running the Wild Hog event.
Warriors Heart will keep the proceeds from the hog catching event, the Hog Calling Contest and other events it runs at the festival.
Warriors Heart Founder and President Josh Lannon said his organization is excited to be involved.
Genie Strickland, a professional event planner who is working with Warriors Heart to put on the Wild Hog event, said she is an animal lover who has heard the complaints raised by Unparalleled Suffering.
But she too does not see the way the hogs are treated at the event as abusive. They instead are treated like many hogs raised on farms are, Strickland said.
Some local news from my neck of the woods. Basically, out of state agitators have bullied some snowflakes. Well, to be fair, if I were getting death threats, I might back off too.
“The Wild Hog Explosion, which features contests pitting wild hogs against teams of youngsters who try to catch the fleeing animals in a small ring, place them in a sack and carry the past a finish line in the shortest time possible, is a major fundraiser for the library.”
Sick!
.
See, this is what happens when ya let those libs in downtown Austin venture outside the donut hole.
So how do they feel about shooting them from helicopters with assault rifles?
More moral cowards.
so this isn't a hog filled wi tannreite? damn...Bandera has sure gone downhill. Why don’t they put the “animal activist” in a sack and drag them across the line? Next you’re gonna tell me that beef jerky store has closed. (That would break my heart.)
Youngsters? Wild hogs? That combination can’t exist. REAL wild hogs are dangerous, foul beasts. And a “group of youngsters” is going to get one into a sack? Oh, I don’t think so. Something doesn’t add up in this reportage.