Georgia farmer skeptical whether Alabama hog was wild / Associated Press June 1, 2007 ALAPAHA, Ga. (AP) - The Georgia farmer on whose property a huge wild hog was killed in 2004 is skeptical about reports that an even bigger wild hog was killed in east Alabama.
Ken Holyoak of Alapaha said yesterday that he doesn't believe the Alabama hog was wild.
The media attention surrounding giant wild pigs grew after an eleven-year-old Alabama boy said he killed a feral hog that weighed more than a thousand pounds and measured nine-foot-four from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail.
Holyoak said he measured and weighed the pig nicknamed Hogzilla that was killed on his farm near Alapaha at a thousand pounds and 12 feet. Experts from National Geographic exhumed the hog's body and said it was maybe eight feet long and weighed 800 pounds.
Holyoak says the key to finding out if the Alabama hog was wild is the length of the tusk.
Holyoak said he could look at the picture of the hog killed in Alabama and tell it wasn't grown in the wild.
Hogzilla was brought down in 2004 by hunting guide Chris Griffin. An independent south Georgia film company is now making a movie based on the beast.
Georgia farmer skeptical whether Alabama hog was wild / Associated Press June 1, 2007 ALAPAHA, Ga. (AP) - The Georgia farmer on whose property a huge wild hog was killed in 2004 is skeptical about reports that an even bigger wild hog was killed in east Alabama.
Ken Holyoak of Alapaha said yesterday that he doesn't believe the Alabama hog was wild.
The media attention surrounding giant wild pigs grew after an eleven-year-old Alabama boy said he killed a feral hog that weighed more than a thousand pounds and measured nine-foot-four from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail.
Holyoak said he measured and weighed the pig nicknamed Hogzilla that was killed on his farm near Alapaha at a thousand pounds and 12 feet. Experts from National Geographic exhumed the hog's body and said it was maybe eight feet long and weighed 800 pounds.
Holyoak says the key to finding out if the Alabama hog was wild is the length of the tusk.
Holyoak said he could look at the picture of the hog killed in Alabama and tell it wasn't grown in the wild.
Hogzilla was brought down in 2004 by hunting guide Chris Griffin. An independent south Georgia film company is now making a movie based on the beast.
Looks like this story is true and not true, in parts:
FRUITHURST, Alabama (AP) -- 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.
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, and that they sold it after deciding to get rid of all the pigs at their farm.
"I just wanted the truth to be told. That wasn't a wild pig," Rhonda Blissitt said.
Jamison Stone shot the huge hog during what he and his father described as a three-hour chase. They said it was more than 1,000 pounds and 9 feet long; if anything, it looked even bigger in a now-famous photo of the hunter and the hunted. (Watch the boy describe his 'monster' kill Video)
Mike Stone said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Friday that he had been under the impression that the hog was wild, not farm-raised.
Telephone messages left Friday with Eddy Borden, the owner of Lost Creek Plantation, were not immediately returned.
Stone said state wildlife officials told him that it is not unusual for hunting preserves to buy farm-raised hogs and that the hogs are considered feral once they are released.
Stone said he and his son met Blissitt on Friday morning to get more details about the hog. Blissitt said that he had about 15 hogs and decided to sell them for slaughter, but that no one would buy that particular animal because it was too big for slaughter or breeding, Stone said.
Blissitt said that the pig had become a nuisance and that visitors were often frightened by it, Stone said.
"He was nice enough to tell my son that the pig was too big and needed killing," Stone said. "He shook Jamison's hand and said he did not kill the family pet."
The Blissitts said they didn't know the hog that was hunted was Fred until they were contacted by a game warden for the Alabama Department of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. The agency determined that no laws were violated in the hunt.
Phil Blissitt said he became irritated when he learned that some thought the photo of Fred was doctored.
I used to live a few hours outside the swamp (don't ask me to spell the name of the swamp, because I can't) i heard a lot about hogzilla and saw the NG special where it turned out to be not as big. Still, 800 pounds is huge, but as far as this kid goes, I'm not sure which was I will lean. Those two pictures posted are suspect. Why is the kid so clear, and the hog very blurry? I'm sure there will be some photoshop experts tearing this pictures apart.
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by Omaha Red Sox » Fri Jun 01, 2007 1:02 pm 
