|
Save
the Pigs:
Life
Imitates Bacon's Rebellion
In
the Oct. 21 edition of Bacon’s Rebellion, I penned a
whimsical rant in defense of feral pigs. (See Our
Hidden Shame.) I skewered state wildlife managers
for the barbaric practice of permitting annual hunts of
the wild pigs, on the pretext that they were an invasive
species that damaged the delicate marsh habitat of the
Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Where, I asked, was
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a
Norfolk-based organization whose website never so much
as mentioned the slaughter of the innocent porkers in
their own back yard?
I
never thought this day will come. I find myself
apologizing to PETA. The day following my column, the Richmond
Times-Dispatch ran an AP wire story noting that a
state-licensed hunt at Back Bay, designed to thin the
pack, had bagged 48 pigs – some weighing up to 130
pounds. And who spoke up in protest of the hunt? None
other than PETA. Stephanie Boyles, a PETA biologist,
decried the practice. Trapping and euthanizing the hogs,
she said, would be more humane!
Meanwhile,
who should rebut my column but my very own sister,
a frequent visitor to Back
Bay. She
and her husband are avid joggers through the state and neighboring federal parks near our parents’ beach
cottage in Sandbridge.
Feral pigs ARE a menace, and thinning out the population
along with deer has been a necessary annual event in the
first week of October for 20 years. The pigs really do
wreak havoc in area, which is truly a wetlands treasure.
There is no difference in my mind between thinning the
pig population and thinning the deer population.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to go out the
door in Sandbridge and be charged by a feral pig! The
deer [roam] in droves all through the residential beach
and are causing huge destruction. The pigs would be
likely next candidates.
Since when did you become such a hugger of animals?
Mary Adams Bacon
Ewing,
Monroe & Bemiss
Richmond
m.bacon@embco.com
|
