Unbelievable

[draggonlaady]

People like this piss me off for a variety of reasons, which I'm sure you can all guess at.

In April, a pig farm in Maryland was placed in quarantine after county, state and federal inspectors raided the farm in March and April and found decomposing carcasses, piles of bones, livestock feeding on rotting trash and the decaying bodies of other animals. Several of the pigs were found to be infected with Toxoplasma and Trichinella. The owners (Carroll L. Schisler Sr and Jr) have been charged with 19 violations, including polluting state waterways, illegally disposing of dead animals, animal cruelty, and selling contaminated meat. Fine and dandy and hurray for the law for catching them, yes? sure.

Except that now (well, September 24, actually) over 100 pigs "disappeared" from this quarantined farm. The Carroll Schislers claim they have no idea what happened to them. But I am skeptical--it seems exceedingly unlikely to me that someone could have snuck in and stolen an entire pig herd (many of them adults, weighing in at over 500-600 pounds each) without being noticed. For one thing, the noise should have attracted attention--pigs are NOT quiet critters. And they wouldn't all fit in one truck, either; which means either a bunch of vehicles showed up at once, or they were hauled off in several trips. For another, when the state officers tried to return to sample the quarantined pigs a week before the "disappearance," the gates to the farm were locked up and they couldn't get in--convenient then, that some unknown party could get in. And why the hell would anyone steal a herd of pigs from quarantine, anyway? Big yellow signs all over the place saying the pigs were quarantined, so who'd go there? Well, Schisler Jr is blaming animal rights activists...which I suppose is possible, except that they usually aren't very secretive; I'd expect at least some "you'll never find these pigs to eat them now" sort of message. I mean animal rights activists in general aren't known for subtlety.

Now, the judge on the case has delayed a decision for 60 days, because apparently the Schislers can't present proof that they don't know what happened, and the county hasn't been able to gather enough to prove that they do.

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/10006473/detail.html
http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/10070178/detail.html
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1160195207302040.xml&coll=1
http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=AgTODAYNewsletter&id=24401&v=ArticleNational
http://www.whas11.com/topstories/stories/WHAS11_TOP_sickpigs.f7c955e.html

Comments

[tmercenary.livejournal.com]

long ago, beffore sewer systems and plumbing, towns would let pigs roam free in the street, and the pigs would serve the town as a sort of garbage disposal system. Not the healthiest thing, but they realized the importance of having something around to clean up, and thus it was a capitol crime to hurt or kill one of these pigs

[cheshirecatco.livejournal.com]

That's just shitty in about half a dozen levels. Wow.

[sir-orfeo.livejournal.com]

I'm officially throwing out all my Groce-Out Salami now.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Meh. It's probably fine. I'm not fond of under-cooked pork anyway. but this sort of thing is just stupid.

[sir-orfeo.livejournal.com]

I'm not really all that fond of pork. But when its cheap hard salami... I have a weakness.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

well, i'd bet it's safe to eat. but then, i'm not the one eating it ;)

[sir-orfeo.livejournal.com]

I'd rather get trikenosis (SP) than Bovine BrainRot any day of the week anyway.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

well, you're highly unlikely to get either one by eating food around here.