Killing of ‘Monster Pig’ sparks inquiry

BIRMINGHAM, ALA. —  State wildlife officials said Wednesday they wanted to know how the huge hog dubbed “Monster Pig” got into a fenced hunting preserve where it was chased down and shot to death by an 11-year-old boy.

The young hunter is not accused of doing anything illegal, but the head enforcement officer for Alabama’s wildlife agency said agents were trying to determine whether anyone broke a state law prohibiting the transportation and release of live feral swine.

“There are some questions about where the animal came from, how he got there, how long he’d been there,” said Allan Andress, head of enforcement for the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries.

Andress said officials also would review whether the hunt complied with the state’s “fair chase” law, which requires that prey at hunting plantations have a reasonable chance of escape.

Eddy Borden, owner of the spread where the hunt occurred, declined to comment on how the hog got into the 150-acre area where it was killed by Jamison Stone of Pickensville, Ala.

Borden said he was getting tired of questions about the hog, which Jamison’s father said weighed 1,051 pounds and measured 9 feet, 4 inches from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail. The kill drew international attention.

“I didn’t ask for the publicity. I just want it to all go away,” said Borden, whose Lost Creek Plantation is in eastern Alabama.

Keith O’Neal, one of the guides who accompanied Jamison and his father, Mike Stone, on the paid hunt, said he was unsure whether the super swine was placed in the enclosure or grew up there.

The boy was hunting with his father and the guides May 3 when he killed the pig. He said he shot the animal eight times with a .50-caliber revolver and chased it for three hours through hilly woods before finishing it off with a point-blank shot.

Mike Stone said neither he nor his son did anything wrong.

“It’s an 11-year-old boy who went hunting,” Stone said. “He was enjoying all the attention at first, but it’s all getting old.”

Andress said children can hunt legally in Alabama.