Posted on 06/02/2007 5:18:50 PM PDT by Politicalmom
FRUITHURST, Ala. (AP) The huge hog that became known as ``Monster Pig'' after being hunted and killed by an 11-year-old boy had another name: Fred.
The not-so-wild pig had been raised on an Alabama farm and was sold to the Lost Creek Plantation just four days before it was shot there in a 150-acre fenced area, the animal's former owner said.
Phil Blissitt told The Anniston Star in a story Friday that he bought the 6-week-old pig in December 2004 as a Christmas gift for his wife, Rhonda, and that they sold it after deciding to get rid of all the pigs at their farm.
``I just wanted the truth to be told. That wasn't a wild pig,'' Rhonda Blissitt said.
Jamison Stone shot the huge hog during what he and his father described as a three-hour chase. They said it was more than 1,000 pounds and 9 feet long; if anything, it looked even bigger in a now-famous photo of the hunter and the hunted.
Mike Stone said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Friday that he had been under the impression that the hog was wild, not farm-raised.
Telephone messages left Friday with Eddy Borden, the owner of Lost Creek Plantation, were not immediately returned.
Stone said state wildlife officials told him that it is not unusual for hunting preserves to buy farm-raised hogs and that the hogs are considered feral once they are released.
Stone said he and his son met Blissitt on Friday morning to get more details about the hog. Blissitt said that he had about 15 hogs and decided to sell them for slaughter, but that no one would buy that particular animal because it was too big for slaughter or breeding, Stone said.
Blissitt said that the pig had become a nuisance and that visitors were often frightened by it, Stone said.
``He was nice enough to tell my son that the pig was too big and needed killing,'' Stone said. ``He shook Jamison's hand and said he did not kill the family pet.''
The Blissitts said they didn't know the hog that was hunted was Fred until they were contacted by a game warden for the Alabama Department of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. The agency determined that no laws were violated in the hunt.
Phil Blissitt said he became irritated when he learned that some thought the photo of Fred was doctored.
``That was a big hog,'' he said.
We have some friends with five children who once had a pet pig. They told me that had to have it slaughtered in the fall, when it reached a thousand pounds, because they began to get very worried that it might eat their kids. It ate just about everything else.
I will never complain about my husband’s Christmas gifts to me. Ever again. How do you return a hog?
I’m so disappointed - was expecting a thread on the hildebeast.
Send it to the slaughter house in exchange for bacon and hams?
Some people call that divorce! LOL!
Is Rosie O’Donnell getting divorced?
Not yet, it is bound to happen.
Oh, sorry. When I saw this was a thread about hogs, I just assumed... LOL!
Too bad there weren't any weddings soon after. She could have re-gifted it.
Few are ever raised more than a few years because the meat doesn’t bring much at market if they get much over 250# and they will eat too much in relation to meat yield.
Most hogs will be butchered at about 6-9 months old. They grow fast.
Once over 250# the meat to fat ratio drops.
That is true, and the pig is low enough to the ground that they can easily knock down even the toughest dude.
Ummm...take it back to the Harley dealer? Not that I'd want to.
The world record for the heaviest pig so far is held by “Big Bill”, a Tennessee domestic Poland China hog that tipped the scales at 2,551lb in 1933 with a belly that dragged on the ground.
There is at least a half dozen jokes in there somewhere
When my husband was ranching full time, he brought home a piglet for me to raise on a bottle. We named her Fern after the little girl in Charlotts Web. Fern lived in our backyard until we decided she was old enough to go the the ranch and live with the cows. Our boys played with Fern all the time and when she saw us driving up she would come running to be scratched. Even when she got to several hundred pounds our boys would ride her and she would run and buck them off. At some point maybe 500 lbs we decided she was a little big and rough to be a playmate and she ........... shall we say......... moved away.
You about have to starve them to keep their weight down.
Yup.
Life's good friends are hard to find
And now one of mine is dead
The things I should have said to her
I shall say to you instead
Mona, Mona
So much of you to love
Too much of you to take care of
Mona, Mona
You got too big to keep
And too ** old to eat
When you where just a football
At your mama's side
I reckon everyone figured you
For a bar-b-que when you died
And here i'm thinking about you lying underground
Pushing up a pine tree in my field
Oh Mona, Mona
You can close your eyes
I've got a twelve gauge surprise
Waiting for you
Ever since the day she passed away
Everything's just the same
Everywhere i go
Somebody mentions her name
Sometimes it's easiest to tell a friend a lie
'cause they don't understand the way i feel
Oh Mona, Mona
So much of you to love
Too much of you to take care of
So long
Now she is gone and i am left alone as you can see
But ever since i caused her death
I do miss her company
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