Update from earlier entry: Pigs who swam through Iowa floodwaters shot and killed on levee
A pig who somehow floated or swam several miles from the flooded hog barns near Oakville, Iowa, attempts to crawl over the levee from the Mississippi River side of a sandbagged levee near Kingston, Iowa, Tuesday, June 17, 2008.
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)Pigs who swam through floodwaters killed on levee
By ALLEN G. BREED, AP National Writer
1 hour, 27 minutes ago
Luck ran out for about a dozen pigs who 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 Tuesday, not long after they reached the levee several miles from the nearest hog farm.
Officials said they killed the pigs over worries that they would weaken the levee. Onlookers said the animals were having a difficult time trying to maneuver their way off the sandbags, and that they scurried back into the water as people approached.
"Basically you cannot have something with a hoof walk on plastic and not poke a hole in the plastic and let water into it," said LeRoy Lippert, chairman of the county emergency management commission. "Hogs, they have a tendency to root and that would not have been good either."
He said the state veterinarian and other agencies were consulted, and that 10 to 16 animals were killed.
"It happens every day. My gosh, that's what slaughterhouses do — that's how we get bacon and pork chops," Lippert said. "It's just one of the casualties of the flooding situation."
The carcasses were left at the site and treated essentially as road kill, Lippert said. "You don't get them out of the mud and over the dike when you're worried about people and people's property," he said.
Louisa County Sheriff Curt Braby said he had heard about the incident and understood why the pigs needed to be killed.
"They did not want to take a chance on losing a city due to a few hogs," he said.
Lippert noted that out of about 36,000 pigs in the Oakville area, officials estimated that only a thousand or so were left behind when the floodwaters came through.
"We trucked them as far as 200 miles away to other hog farms so that they would be taken care of," he said.
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Associated Press Writer Amy Lorentzen in Des Moines contributed to this report.
HERE
A pig who somehow floated or swam several miles from the flooded hog barns near Oakville, Iowa, walks on a portion of the levee to a sandbagged portion of levee near Kingston, Iowa, Tuesday, June 17, 2008.
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
A pig who somehow floated or swam several miles from the flooded hog barns near Oakville, Iowa, rests on the Mississippi River side of a sandbagged levee near Kingston, Iowa, Tuesday, June 17, 2008.
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
I'm sickened at this man's actions. Instead of sitting there with his gun cocked why couldn't he get his big butt down there to help them get out of the water? They survived this trauma to have their life taken by quick triggered jerk. I hope he gets food poisoning from eating that pork chop that he was referring to.
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Hi Michelle,
I was very sorry to read this update, that the pigs had managed to swim so far and long and yet were shot. I can understand fear that they would tear the levees with their hooves, but this was sad. I don't know if it is a good idea to leave their bodies lying out there when the fear is that the levees might break. Seems like it may cause more problems.
It would be nice if people were less callous in their attitudes about animals.
Let's hope the people who are still in harm's way receive help and fare much better.
Thanks for your comment!
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Let's hope the ANIMALS who are still in harm's way can find a safe place, away from trigger happy rednecks, and towards people who have the brains to find a humane and intelligent solution to such a situation.
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Such a waste. A natural survival story like this deserves more consideration than just whipping out the shotguns and shooting whatever moves. Such a shame. The YeeHaws could have coaxed the pigs out with a bucketful of slop, then tied them up and hoisted them off to the slaughterhouse. They didn't have to waste all that good meat. Bacon.
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I would hope that the pigs would have gotten a reprieve... they were survivors performing amazing feats. It must have been difficult to swim so far and make it to safety.
Still, you are right that they should not have just been left there.
Thanks for the comment.
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We were warned in '93 when the levees breached. We were warned again when Katrina hit. Heads firmly in the sand, the Ostriches are now shooting the pigs and talking about replanting the flood plains in a year.
But how different is the town from the pigs? Just victims of circumstance?
Did they really think shooting the pig would save their town! The desperation is amazing... shoot a pig, cross your fingers-- same difference.
Karmic faux pas? I guess we'll see!
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Hi Adam,
The news media is calling this "Iowa's Katrina." You bring up some interesting points about the dangers of where people live... though I cannot think of a safe place that is not subject to earthquakes or floods or hurricanes or tornadoes. Seems like we all have something.
I worry about what will be left in the soil after this flood, as the water is contaminated with all kinds of chemicals and toxic waste. Even food from crops planted next year might have problems.
I am also surprised at the one shot of the pig standing in the middle of the water near the levee. I had thought the water was quite deep there, but it was not.
Thanks for the comment.
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Are you people for real? I bet if it was your town and or family being threated by floodwater, you wouldn't have a problem with putting these pigs down. Ofcourse it sucks but you can't put an animal life ahead of a humans.
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Hi Ash,
Everyone here has a right to their opinion, and I am sure they are 'for real.'
As I expressed above, I can understand the fear of what the pigs would do to the levees, but that I felt it was sad. It certainly can still be a sad thing to happen, whether or not anyone feels it was a necessity.
As for putting animal lives ahead of humans, no one has said shoot a human to save a pig. It often seems like a person cannot express an opinion about animals and their treatment without someone misconstruing it to mean that humans should suffer.
No one is saying that here, and they all, I am sure, are hoping very much that the humans impacted by this flood make it through ok.
As I said above, "Let's hope the people who are still in harm's way receive help and fare much better."
Thanks for your comment.
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As far as I'm concerned, animals DESERVE to be put ahead of humans much of the time ... have you looked around lately to see
A) What we have done to this planet?
Do you really think a God who created the glory & wonder of the universe looks at the mess we've made of it and sees us as his crowning achievement?
The ONLY good thing about the fate of those pigs is that their last hours were spent free of the misery and filth they had been forced to tolerate their entire lives.
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Thank you ash. Get a fucking grip 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. I can't believe I actually feel sorry for the government, but if I had to listen to you people compare a pigs life to a humans life for even 5 minutes a day I would put a bullet through my fucking skull. And for those who obviously didn't read the article, they DID try to save the pigs but they retreated back to the water whenever someone approached. You want to save a pig, go kidnap one from a slaughterhouse. But don't EVER say that a pig should be spared when a human's life is in danger.
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David,
In regards to your comment, "When people's lives are in danger, the animals go first."
I'd like to clarify that human lives were not in danger as a resident of Iowa, I have experienced the flooding first hand. I see your point, however your posting, "People whose overwhelming emotions control their ability to think logically are tearing a whole in this country." is contradicted by your following entry,
"if I had to listen to you people compare a pigs life to a humans life for even 5 minutes a day I would put a bullet through my fucking skull." That appears to be an incredibly emotional response.
It’s been my experience that appropriate emotion in the right measure is a very important part of society.
Compassion is, without a doubt, an emotion we can certainly afford to increase in this country and in this world.
-Jen
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Jen,
You express yourself very well. I think you are right that compassion is an emotion, and practice, we need to increase here and in the world. I think it is sad that even mentioning a person is sorry the pigs were shot can be greeted with skepticism or harsh criticism.
Thank you for coming back and leaving a follow-up comment. It is appreciated. Please feel visit the blog often.
Also, check out: www.luciolepress.com
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This is really sad. Why couldn't they have rescued the pigs instead of shooting them? The shooting was completely unnecessary and cruel. So sad, especially when I see the photo of the exhausted pig lying down on the levee after swimming to safety. It is shameful that animals are subject to so much abuse. It's time we gave them some rights, too.
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Is this really any surprise? Man only cares about man that has been proven time and time again. Would it have been so hard to remove the pigs from the levees? I live in a flood prone area and was hit by four hurricanes a few years ago, take a few seconds and save a life. A life is a life, animal or human. Animals are no more disposable than a human is. The pigs that were shot. Are they going to enter the food supply? Probably not. They were killed inhumanely without a purpose. Was the cop an engineer? No that is why he is a cop. If a pig was going to bring down the levee, the levee was not sturdy enough and was going to break anyway, pig or not.
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So sad. Let just shoot them instead of help them. What heartless people! How would you like to be shot after swimming out of the water because " your to fat and may cause the sand bags to collapse". WOW lets use some heart instead of our gun for once.
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I am absolutely shocked at the cruel disregard for life and I very much expect that most Europeans reading this article share the same feeling. Yesterday when my wife and I saw this on CNN’s international news we were wondering why there hadn’t been a boat sent to rescue the pigs. It seems as though the American news articles mainly focus upon the disaster and impact it has on property and capitalist interests, with no focus on saving life, such as the helpless animals. The fact that an American can go out and shoot helpless animals trying to survive rather than easily rescue them as they approach land is a crime, which I expect in that country will soon be forgotten. Looking at how Americans portray themselves around the world, I guess this is normal for them. After seeing this, I would have pleasure in seeing the person shot to death and left laying along side the pigs he killed.
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I think that it was stupid to shoot the pigs, some people are just gun happy. They survived the flood and come to humans who have taken care of them all their lives and then some moron shoots them. A threat to humans, what a crock. All you have to do is move them from the levees and their is not a problem. What dingbat thinks it is better to shoot them and leave their dead bodies laying around. Des Moines county, you got some real bright ones up there. I mean really.
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I live in Iowa City and this story is very upsetting. I agree with many of the others, to struggle so hard to survive only to be killed in the end is painfully tragic.
Although the flooding in Iowa has been terrible, thankfully very few if any human lives have been lost. I can not see any reason to value property above animal lives.
I understand it may have been difficult to remove struggling pigs from the levees. I wonder why they could not have been temporarily tranquilized and removed? Even if it was "necessary" euthanize them. The lack of consideration in regard to the wording of Mr Lippertt's response is offensive and frankly I expect more from a spokesman or official.
Jen
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Oh and whoever edits comments, I'm sorry for the foul language. If you don't want to post it please send it back and I will edit it appropriately.
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Knowing how bad it may sound that they shot the pigs, but if you stop and think about it, if the pigs would have started breaking down the levee, that famer would be held liable for all the property damage that those dozen pigs caused. I bet he doesn't have that deep of pockets. That would be well into the millions. Out of 36000 pigs only maybe a thousand was lost. It wouldn't have taken much for the levee to go. In 93 someone did just a little digging on the levee in West Quincy, Mo and it went real quick. Just think of how much money that guy saved us taxpayers for just shooting a dozen pigs.
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No, Jeff, the farmer would not be liable. An "act of god" created a situation beyond the farmer's control therefore he would not have to pay millions, as you put it. So there is no justification for shooting the pigs. BTW, did you know that pigs are as intelligent as dogs? Shooting these beautiful, intelligent creatures was a heinous, unnecessary act that should be criminally punished.
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I don't think the farmer would be liable for pigs breaking down the levee either, just as the people closest to where muskrats ate a hole in another levee, causing it to break, will not be held for negligence.
I agree, Dee, pigs are very intelligent.
Thanks very much for the comment!
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