Thursday, June 19, 2008

Pigs shot after they survived the flood


From CNN: Luck ran out for about a dozen pigs that escaped their flooded farm, swam through raging floodwaters and scrambled atop a sandbag levee in southeastern Iowa. Des Moines County sheriff's officials shot the pigs, saying they were worried the pigs would weaken the levee.

This makes me sad- the pigs swam through the flood, managed to get to safety, were close enough to rescuers that they could be approached, but instead of being saved and this story having a silver lining, they were shot. I know, I know, I'm a hippie treehugger, I get that slant of my brain. But there was something more here- I mean really, these animals were hungry, would it have been that difficult to lure them from the sandbags? Or maybe I don't understand the burrowing nature of pigs such that they could be a detriment to a levee of sandbags. I feel like if the levee was weak enough that a few pigs could destroy it, then, uh, the mighty river probably could too. I also realize that thousands of pigs are slaughtered every day, but still, the survival of these that fought so hard should have been more, if even to recognize that survival of the fittest would indicate these pigs were special. Or maybe just lucky.

Totally sad to me.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope the sherrifs' homes flood out. That is just awful. How do you think those pigs felt as they watched their friends get dropped one at a time. HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE. that brings tears to my eyes - what a horrible thing to have done.

Anonymous said...

this is horrible!! HORRIBLE I can't believe it... this is cruellll

CRUEL

I want to cry. WHAT A @*$@#$ whoever shot them. People don't know what's going on and they just agreed to commit a true crime with all the disaster surrounding them. What makes pigs different from a dog? SOmeone should have saved them. Get them off the levee and into safety grounds would have been a good idea MAYBE? Grrr this sickens me and I can't believe this was done. Especially when they struggled to survive only so they could get killed.
:(


this makes me very sad. very sad

David Webb said...

Wow people.. that is the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Why would you risk a levee being destroyed and wiping out a town just to save a pig's life. A pig. A fucking pig. Are you serious? Be real here. I am an animal lover; I don't hunt, I own many cats and dogs, I even swerve to avoid birds while driving. But animals are animals, and people are people. When people's lives are in danger, the animals go first. They didn't "watch" their friends die one after the other because they don't care. They don't have friends anyway. People whose overwhelming emotions control their ability to think logically are tearing a whole in this country. The poor government (yes I said it) has to listen to this bullshit all day.

Unknown said...

David Webb - you go ahead and let us know why not shooting the pigs would have actually weakened the levy, and I'll be right there with you.

If, of course, you can also tell us why moving 12 pigs away from a levy wouldn't have worked as well.

Jenni said...

I just wonder why there was no attempt to just REMOVE the pigs. It's clear they're hungry, it's also clear from the picture that they were approachable. If they were suffering, I can think of the shooting as humane, but it seemed the first option and not the last.

David Webb said...

The levee is made up of sandbags with a plastic covering (similar to a giant garbage bag) that keeps the sandbags in place and protects them from the current of the river. Now if a hoof of an unaware animal happens to break the plastic, which would be extremely possible, then water could rush in and easily cause the levee to collapse. Thank god someone with some sense was there to suppress his emotions and decide that an ENTIRE TOWN was more important than a dozen PIGS. In the article it said they tried to approach the pigs but everytime they retreated back to the water. Sure they could have spent hours rounding up some pigs, but that is just too risky when so much is at stake. Plus, it is a fucking pig.

Anonymous said...

I hope the sherrifs' homes flood out.

Might be a little extreme. Wives, kids, mothers, ???

Unknown said...

>>http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/06/27/floods/index.html<<

Muskrats weaken levee walls, cause town flooding.