Not Feral, Farm-Raised, Just Fred
Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 2nd, 2007
It turns out that the “giant wild boar” is not exactly Hogzilla II. It’s merely “Fred.”
Wire service reports are flashing the news around the world, summarizing the reported truth behind Hogzilla II.
It was not a wild boar, and not even a hybrid. It was a farm-raised pig, named Fred, purchased for a canned hunt. That hunt ended on Lost Creek Plantation just four days after it was released into a 60 hectare fenced area, the animal’s former owner said.
Phil Blissitt told The Anniston Star that he bought the six-week-old pig in 2004 as a Christmas gift for his wife, Rhonda, and that they sold it after deciding to get rid of all their pigs. Blissitt said the pig had become a nuisance and that visitors were often frightened by it.
“I just wanted the truth to be told. That wasn’t a wild pig,” Rhonda Blissitt said.
“That was a big hog,” said her husband, Phil Blissitt.
The 11-year-old Jamison Stone shot the huge hog during what he and his father, Mike Stone, described as a three-hour chase.
We were told that it was a feral hog, and we hunted it on the pretense that it was a feral hog. [Phil Blissitt] was nice enough to tell my son that the pig was too big and needed killing. He shook Jamison’s hand and said he did not kill the family pet. Mike Stone told The Anniston Star, June 1, 2007.
The Blissitts said they did not know the hog 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.Summarized by the Associated Press, June 2, 2007.
Articles are appearing throughout the world about this news, from Australia (thanks Chris) to hundreds of papers in America.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
“GREAT WHITE HUNTER” in training.
Disgusting, like all “SPORT” hunting.
His Daddy must be sooo proud!
Is there such a thing as a feral boar – domestic pig hybrid? I thought they were the same species.
The only difference between a fishing tale and hunting story is the amount of sogginess tolerated.
I have no issue with hunters who go about hunting with something resembling sport. Although I do not hunt, most of the men in my family do or did, and I was taught by them to value all life — even that of the animal that ended up on our dinner table.
Disclaimer — I am not a vegetarian, nor am I a treehugger.
But to set a kid with an enormous weapon loose in a fenced-in killing enterprise to chase down an animal raised in a barnyard is disgusting. If Fred was too big, there are plenty of humane ways to do it than to sentence him to fleeing for his life for hours in a forest in which he had no knowledge of, mortally injured, before finishing him off.
Daddy’s proud of his great little hunter — he paid for it, remember?
My Cousin has a 1600 lb Hog on a farmette in Santa Rosa, people as they drive by stop and take pictures. She will never sell it but will let it die of old age.
I was raised on a farm and whether the animals had names or not we knew what their purpose was.
We had panthers and bobcats and a black bear that tried to get in our house one night. They didn’t have names and we did, they would have ate us if they could. Thank goodness my Dad was a good shot.
Hey Bob Michaels; that’s an interesting story about your friends’ hog. I’m glad they’ll let it enjoy a long life. It should be noted however, that in some regions, a hog which dies of “old age” or natural causes is considered to possess a very desirable quality in its pork. By feeding the family which provided for it in life, it promotes the mindful, humane and conscientious respect we should all have for the resources, especially living ones, that help us. I hope your friends will consider that.
SO the guy bought the giant pig for his wife as a Christmas present??? And I thought romance was dead!
“Close your eyes, Honey. No peeping …”
I’m not sure that shooting fish in a barrel is much of a sport. As I was growing up I was always under the assumption that “sports” involved acts of individual or group athletic achievement. That kid doesn’t look like much of an athlete, and I bet after eating a lifetime supply of bacon and pork rinds he won’t be too athletic as an adult either. That’s OK, I suppose. If mommy and daddy can shell out big bucks for junior to kill a pig then they can probably afford his liposuction, too.
@Kamoeba: I couldn’t stop laughing after I read this Response, and it’s true, it happens all the time. Rich people pay to have wild animals captured from all over the world and brought to them in a cage so that they can then go ahead and shoot it in their back yard. Sick, twisted, and any other word you can conjure does not begin to describe these people!
I’m not against Hunting and Hunters, BUT there’s a difference between hunting, tracking, and working to put the food on the table, and purchasing a pig from a local farm, setting it free in a field. Then chasing around with a gun for hours. But hey maybe the boy’s parents have the right idea….. by a new animal every week and have the boy chase it for hours….. he wont need Liposuction!
i have no problem with hunting. my dad, grandpa, and uncle used to hunt, but then they also didn’t chase something down for three hours. poor fred. and the size of this pig still amazes me. scary. i wouldn’t want to run into it. every time i see a pig i remember the pigs from hannibal. eeek
my dads uncle used his pigs to get rid of a doe that was shot and left on his property. they ate every peice of it, teeth, bones, everything. gross.
I have never felt such overwhelming contempt for a child in all my life.
Ceolacanth, please don’t aim all of your contempt at Jamison — he is still just an 11-year-old kid, and has been taught that this sort of behaviour is acceptable.
Please feel free to pile double the contempt on his parents — who not only believe that this is okay, but have taught their kid to believe it’s okay, too.
And leave a little (no, a lot!) for the proprietor of the ‘canned hunt’ property, too.
In another few years, when Jamison is an adult and still thinks shooting tame barnyard animals is fun, then you can revile him as much as he will deserve.
Disgusting.
Disturbing is so many ways. Egad.
You folks don’t really believe that is an actual size of a boar. Proportionally compared to the kid it would be as big as a buffalo or bigger and stand taller then him. It’s amazing the hoaxes they can do with photoshop now. This is pasted in and obvious but well done fake. C’mon all you hog farmers out there “weigh in” on this one. 😉
As I hunter, I find this appalling. There is no true spirit of the hunt when you aren’t tracking your prey and it has wild instincts. I think that “canned hunts” are a load of hog spit.
Eh, figured it was a canned hunt. Also, “Fred” doesn’t look very wild. His hair hadn’t grown too thick yet and his tusks looked really small for a hog of that size.
If anybody is curious, all “Wild” North American Hogs are descended from feral pigs or imported Russian boar in one way or another.
If a domestic pig escapes into the wild, its native traits will become more prominent, especially in its offspring. Coarser hair and larger tusks become apparent. Perhaps, given a few months in the true “wild”, Fred could have become truly feral. Not in 4 days.
Russian boar have been purposely released into the wild, hoping that by cross breeding them with feral hogs, a better game species will be produced.
Kinda sad they had to buy a domestic pig and pump 8 or 9 .50 cal rounds into him to get a jolly. It’s not hunting. It’s just target practice resulting in bacon.
Poor Fred probably wandered right up to the kid, totally unaware of any danger. The kid should have had a deer rifle, not a hand cannon, so he was probably nervous and straining to aim that thing. a gun that loud probably makes the kid flinch prematurely, resulting in him closing his eyes and the pistol aim dropping a hair before the shot went off. Wounded, but not fatally, Fred probably ran in a straight line away, leaving a perfect blood trail for the dopey Elmer Fudd’s to follow.
I wonder how much they paid to shoot ole Fred. Any mention of what breed of pig he was?
Good thing time stops in the Hundred Acre Wood for everybody but Christopher Robin.
Forced perspective-the kid is setting several feet away from the pig giving the Illusion of a larger animal.
Canned hunts are in my opinion-as Douglas Adams put it “A Load Of Dingo Kidneys”. Nothing but contempt for the parents here.
I guess I must be thankful we would not let this happen in this country, but our pheasant rearing is little different. (even though its responsible for the preservation of a lot of our woodlands)
and who would sell a pig so cute?
and we must feel sorry for the boy, -how would you feel to have hunted a big animal only to be told it was a pet?
No normal child would want that.
(maybe hunted a pet `knowing` it was a pet, though)
Wow,
Seems more than a few have some vitriol aimed at an eleven year old kid. Thats really quite shameful, both that, and degrading his parents in any manner. You know, I may not agree with someone’s point of view, but i have NEVER deemed them stupid, ignorant savages due to a differing opinion. So it’s not a feral hog, shocking. Its a giant domestic pig. It was shot and killed. Wake up and smell the beans folks, this happens daily, countless times, the world over. Now I may not draw the same issues with canned hunts as everyone else, and no, I’ve never been on one, but consider for a moment this, if you will. In some states, hunting is all but illegal, you have so many hoops to jump through, and snags to negotiate, that most hunters simply lose interest in the sport, as it is just not worth the trouble. In such instances I see little problem with reserve hunts, as they cut the red tape to a minimal. Now a domestic pig released and advertised as a feral hog however, I view with moderate disgust. Not so much the fact the pig was killed, but more the false advertising aspect of the whole ordeal. Well, that’s my take on the situation, just wanted to add a quick note to some comments I read though, such as the romance not being dead, in reference to the christmas piggie. There is a good chance I haven’t laughed that hard for years. And the comment regarding death by old age being more humane than hunting a pig? You’re kidding right? Honestly. If that were your argument against hunting, it being a barbaric extirpation of life, then ban football “pigskin” baseball, as it kills countless trees for its natural wood bats, tennis, for clearing land to lay clay courts. etc. etc. C’mon folks, fight for something worth changing, with something worth arguing about, not senseless opinionated gibberish.
And for gods sake, have a heart, the kid was eleven.
P.S. That’s still one enormous pig, regardless of its heritage.
Seems to me that the people who sold Fred for a canned hunt should be the ones getting all the crap. Most people don’t raise an animal and call it a pet if they plan on selling it to be slaughtered in any way shape or form. If they sell it for consumption it’s called livestock. Or that’s what I always thought.
The kid was just trying to please his dad. Do what pop says this is what we do. I feel for the pig and the kid.
Hmmmm. guess I shouldn’t of said that…
Well, I guess some kids get video games for their birthday, some get bikes, and some get 50 caliber handguns. It’s not my personal idea of a good day of wholesome family entertainment, but hey, different strokes for different folks.
The entire thing is a hoax! Phil is not truthful! I taught the Photoshop computer program! Obviously fake, I can see the editing! Secondly, just look at picture of the hog hanging and measure the proportion of top of back to hoof length and then compare to pic above! Nearly a 250% gain!
At that rate hog would probably weigh almost 3000 lbs. Phil must think we are all idiots! I also don’t think that kid could
shoot that caliber of gun successfully! Look up the specs. DUH!
Does a pig can be so..gigantic?
Anyway, if you go hunting and you find something like that…you’ll think is a wild beast and you’ll probably shoot it…
Poor Fred, anyway!! He was at the wrong place and at the wrong time…
How tall is the kid? From his hight we can calculate if the picture is even possible. Remember Hogzilla? He was around 7 1/2 ft and more than 800 lbs
(National Geographic Channel:
http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/channel/blog/2005/03/explorer_hogzilla.html
)