Wade Seago’s pet schnauzer, Cruiser, wouldn’t stop barking recently at his home in rural Alabama. So Seago went to the window to see why. What greeted him on his front lawn was almost too insane to believe.
Wild hogs aren’t a rarity in this part of the world. It’s not uncommon to see them trouncing through the bushes and tearing up the earth as they move along, but an 820-pound hogzilla showing up right in the front yard of a hunter, that’s the hog of a lifetime.
Seago shot and killed an 820-pound (372-kilogram) hog in his front yard who may have escaped from a pen on a nearby farm, according to Seago‘s hog-raising neighbor.
Seago told Al.com that he and his daughter spotted the massive hog in their yard in Samson last week after the family’s pet schnauzer Cruiser started barking.
“Cruiser had this huge hog confused with all of the barking and movement,” Seagosaid. “It was not a good situation.”
So the man got his .38-calibre handgun and took aim. It took three shots to drop the hog, Seago said, and he later weighed it on scales at a peanut company.
Wild hogs, which aren’t a native species to North America, have become a nuisance for many folks in the areas that they occupy – which includes much of the south, Texas, California, Arizona, and other areas.
Alabama’s laws are fairly lenient on hunting boar because they are vastly overpopulated and very destructive. Feral hogs are always in season, have no limits, and can be taken on private land at any time no matter what.
In fact, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture estimates that wild hogs cause more than $800 million in damage each year.
From Opposing Views:
Seago told The Associated Press he will stuff the hog and display its head and shoulders at his taxidermy shop. The rest of the animal was discarded as he didn’t think it was safe to eat.
“It’s so humid down here it had to hang all night. I wouldn’t trust the meat,” he said.
As a way to keep the ever-growing hog population under control, Alabama law permits hunters to kill as many hogs as they like on private property.
Seago had no regrets about his decision to shoot the hog, which he thought could have posed a threat to the safety of his family.
“I didn’t think twice about taking down this hog,” he said. “I’d do it again tomorrow.”
Sources: OpposingViews, AL.com, AP via The Washington Post
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