Neighbor Stops Rampaging Feral Hog; Media credits Officials

By Dean Weingarten

Neighbor Stops Rampaging Feral Hog; Media credits Officials
Neighbor Stops Rampaging Feral Hog; Media credits Officials
Dean Weingarten
Dean Weingarten

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- The 200+ pound feral hog pictured above was causing considerable damage when one of the neighbors shot the pig with a .40 caliber handgun.

From wbtv.com

Gaston County Animal Care and Enforcement responded to the 4000 block of Wimbledon Drive Sunday where there were reports of a vicious hog that had been charging residents in the area and damaging property, according to Captain Jentsch with the Gaston County Police Department.

Jentsch said that a neighbor shot the hog before Gaston County Police officers arrived on scene and euthanized the animal.

The reporter found a neighbor who complained about the armed citizen taking action:

She said she now arms herself with a baseball bat before she walks her child to the bus stop in the mornings. Gray said she was also alarmed when one of her neighbors tried to kill the hog with a firearm.

“That was probably as scary as the wild (hog),” explained Gray. “Let the correct authorities take care of it. Don’t by any means try to go out there and handle it yourself.”

Grey’s thinking seems a bit muddled.  She is concerned about wild animals in the neighborhood enough to carry a baseball bat to the bus stop, but does not want anyone in the neighborhood to take effective action separate from the “correct authorities”.  A baseball bat is not likely to be effective against a large feral hog.

It is not as if the suburban neighborhood is so densely populated that there are no safe directions to shoot.  There seems to be plenty of open space, and hogs are low enough to ground that the ground will act as a back stop.  Pictures at one of the articles shows the hog in the middle of ball park, with a tree filled ravine in the background.

This hog was quite aggressive, and may have been rabid. One neighbor said that the animal was foaming at the mouth.  It was not reported to have engaged in any more aggressive actions after the neighbor shot it.  The only wounds seen in the picture were to the head, though it is possible that the shots entered the left side and did not exit.

Another news story does not even mention that it was an armed citizen who initially shot the animal, and that police only finished it off. From KTC Broadcasting:

DALLAS – After a wild hog raised a ruckus charging people in the neighborhood on Wimbledon Drive in Dallas police were called and animal was put down. The hog weighed over 200 pounds and before being shot by the police done some damage to a vehicle. It took three shots from a high powered rifle to bring the animal down.

Rabid animals can be surprisingly tenacious. Because rabies affects the brain, they do not have normal responses. Many accounts of people shooting rabid animals remark on how much harder it is to stop them. When a healthy animal is shot, the normal response for an animal is to flee. This gives the shot time to take effect. A diseased brain may also reduce the effects of shock that would normally be present.

c2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch

About Dean Weingarten;

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

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Mike

Most city people are clueless as to how tough these animals really are…

I shot a boar feral hog a few years back that went 500+ lbs ( my scale stopped at 500 ) , it had 5 inch long tusks and measured 6′ 4″ long…. my son hit with a .243, but the shoulder blade stopped the round cold. My 4th hit with my .270 , at point blank range , finally brought it down…..

It filled 5 coolers with meat and tasted surprisingly good……

When they are that big, they are extremely tough animals to bring down……

Lava

Yeah, and she thinks nobody will be scared of her baseball bat. How would she like someone to comment that her bat is scarier than the rabid animal?

KSM

I’m sorry for “most” women its just not in their nature to kill.

Maluka

Sounds like this Gray woman has rabies as her brain is dead. If it took one .40 cal round and three rifle rounds her bat would do more damage on a ball field. While hunting years ago we took two Russian boars ( 350# and 550#) and it took six .44 Mags to the head of one and nine to drop the other one. Yeah lady a bat will really do some good. Typical LIB she has her head up her obama.

durabo

1) It would be tragic, but ironic, if feral hogs ate the anti-gun female’s child. 2) I don’t know any LEOs who carry “high-powered rifles” on patrol, as this is the province of emergency response teams. The hog was probably euthanized with a 5.56mm poodle-popper. Ah, the sensationalist LameStream EneMedia!

Hoosier

A four legged one bites the dust.