150 Pound Porker Is Toast (without bacon) of Florida City

Roaming Free in Florida, a Pig Gains Local Fame



By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: July 24, 2009

MIAMI

A feral pig in Panama City, Fla., has been eluding the authorities for five months. The animal is now a libertarian hero, but officials are concerned.

No one really knows what to call the 150-pound pig roaming free in Panama City, Fla., but by eluding the authorities for five months, shaking off a Taser and four tranquilizer darts on Tuesday, the porker has become more than just swine.

The pig is now a local libertarian hero. Supporters describe the animal as a freedom-loving outlaw with a taste for corn. His Facebook page lists more than 200 fans, like Mary K. Sittman, who asked this week, “Is the pig a symbol of our desire to live free of government controls?”

In an interview, Ms. Sittman said the pig, which lives in a lush, muddy park near her home, had “to be a real survivor.” It is this independence, she said, that appeals to residents in her mostly conservative area in the Florida Panhandle.

The pig is also frugal fun. “Now we have something free to do on a hot summer night,” said Ms. Sittman, 62, a real estate developer semiretired by the recession. “We can go pig-spotting.”

Local officials, though, see the pig as more of a hogzilla in the making.

Jim Crosby, division manager for Bay County Animal Control, said the pig charged him and his deputies on Monday and nearly tore a chunk of flesh from their calves. A woman walking her dog near the park on Thursday reported that the pig also rushed her.

“It has been fed by people and chased by some teenagers,” Mr. Crosby said, adding, “We are afraid the pig could hurt humans or could run into the road and get hit by a car.”

A family in a rural area about 50 miles away has volunteered to accept the pig, without turning him into bacon. So Mr. Crosby said he would keep trying, until he got Porky in a poke.

“We’ve re-evaluated which tranquilizers we’ll be using,” he said. “With the four darts in him Tuesday, he looked like he had a couple of good shots of tequila, but that was it.”