FRUITHURST, Ala. -- The huge hog that became known as "Monster Pig" after being hunted and killed by an 11-year-old boy had another name: Fred. The not-so-wild pig had been raised on an Alabama farm and was sold to the Lost Creek Plantation just four days before it was shot there in a 150-acre fenced area, the animal's former owner said.
So Lost Creek Plantation is like one of those places where people go to hunt buffalo, where they goad farm-raised animals into running the length of a narrow enclosure and "sportsmen" blast away at them from close range.
Sweet home Alabama, where you buy your wife a pig for her birthday, or signal your boy's passage into man-hood by handing him a .50 calibre pistol and telling him to go kill hisself that same tame hog, which has been reclassified as "feral" upon its release at the "hunting preserve" so you or your boy won't feel twinges of self-conscious embarrassment.
Particularly galling is the fact that Phil Bisset, the pig's original owner only stepped forward with the true story when he heard reports that photographs of old Fred had been doctored to make him appear larger.
That was a big hog," said [Mr. Bisset].
Sir, you failed that pig! You should be ashamed of yourself.
