Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
They Died Trying! They didn’t want to go to market…
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Des Moines County sheriffs shot them dead. The story says 10 to 16 pigs were shot and left dead atop the sandbags holding back the flood waters. Left dead and rotting in the sun, presumably, as a grim warning to other pigs trying to save their own lives. “Attention! Deadly Force Used On All Cloven Hoofed Trespassers! No Exceptions! These 10 to 16 little piggy’s won’t be headed to market; they couldn’t stay home or they would have drowned. No little piggy had roast beef for its last meal. I didn’t hear if they were given a last meal, I think they had ‘none’. No, no little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home. Their home had been flooded.
The 10 to 16 pigs were the few sacrificed for the many. Spook would have been please. “They did not want to take a chance on losing a city due to a few hogs” said Louisa County Sheriff Curt Braby when he heard about the ‘pig incident’.
We understand completely that the lives and property of the town was more important than the lives of the little piggys. Still it’s very sad really, when thinking about how these 10 to 16 pigs missed being evacuated somehow with 36,000 other pigs in the Oakville area.
Maybe these pigs were some kind of free thinking renegades.
Maybe they saw a chance to avoid ‘going to market’ and decided to take their chances swimming to a better life. Alas that just wasn’t in the cards for these little porkers. But, you have to love em for trying to survive. That’s what we all do; isn’t it?
The chairman of the county emergency management commission said the state veterinarian and other agencies were consulted and after that the 10 to 16 animals were killed.
Still I’m left with one burning question. Why do they not know how many pigs they killed? Surely if they were simply left where they died someone could have taken at least an accurate count. Why does my heart feel a little sad for the little piggys, trying to escape death only to be killed for their efforts. I guess I need to figure out why the count of 10 to 16 bothers me too. Is it because 16 is only 4 less than 20 and 20 pigs would be double? It just feels like if a person or persons were going to kill a number of animals they ought to know what that number was.
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They Died Trying! They didn’t want to go to market…
