CNN has run a follow-up article about the kid shooting the wild boar, as I blogged about here.
Turns out the boar wasn't so wild after all:
"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...."
There's a joke there, but it's just too easy.
So the reality is that Fred (that's the name of the pig) had been raised on a farm and released on the wilderness reserve because it couldn't be sold to slaughter. Fred roamed around his 150 acre enclosure for four days before meeting his untimely death at the hands of a the gun-totin' 11 year old.
I'm sure it's still an impressive feat and all, but somehow knowing that the thing wasn't wild, that it had only been living on its own for four days, and had a name kinda takes some of the shine off the whole incident, ya know?
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I think it totally changes the story. Wild boars are dangerous, fast, and cagey animals. They fight each other for dominance and can disembowel a man with one swing of their huge, serrated tusks. Hunting wild boars can be quite dangerous, which is why I was so impressed that a kid could take down such a huge wild pig.
ReplyDeleteConversely, domesticated pigs are used to being around humans and rely on them for food. They are probably more likely to run away from any threat rather than charge and attack in return. Especially for an animal that had only been out of the pen for 4 days, I am no longer impressed by the feat.
I hear ya. On the other hand, an 11 year-old kid handling a .50 cal handgun is impressive regardless of what he's shooting.
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