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19. Hog Wild
4 months ago
Each summer they gather from around the state (and one team from the hated Chicago). Teams of three who enter a ring of mud to conquer the pig. The goal is to wrestle the pig into a barrel before a thirty second time limit.
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Just kidding. I love pigs. Alive and on my dish.
I love small towns because of those stories
PEOPLE WHO DO THIS STUFF DISGUST ME.
dont hate on these people having a good time.
I think not!
Did the pig choose to become bacon?
Do animals have a choice in the same way people do?
Look, I totally believe in the humane treatment of animals and in many ways how we treat animals says as much about us as anything. But the difficulty here is one of world view and culture.
People in rural communities are not asking these questions of choice because their fundamental view of animals is completely different. In fact they would say that they treated the pigs in a completely humane manner and compared to what I have seen in other places, I would be inclined to agree (emphasis on inclined).
As I said in other posts, I was conflicted about the squealing of the pig (and really it is only the squealing that is the issue - when they are not squealing they seem perfectly content and happy in the ring - they are calm and not anxious). It is loud and to be honest sounds like something from a horror movie. But I tried to approach this project through the experience of the people involved. Perhaps that was the wrong decision and if so, I will learn from it. But I think I have at least captured something of rural America that many people haven't seen.
Ok, im German and the german word "Tierquälerei" doesn't sound as brutal as "cruelty to animals" does.
Sorry for my bad English, i'm still practising.
Letus?
The higher angle camera was an EX1. Most of the other stuff was with two Z1s and with 1 Canon XH A1. Since we weren't paid to do it, we had to gather cameras from wherever we could find 'em. Thus they all didn't match.
Edit (also commented on your blog):
I love this kind of documentaries.
Tip: On Google video there is a long feature about ‘Oakie noodling’ which is the art of catching catfish in their holes by hand.
Manual trackback: sankt-georg.info/artikel/844/amerika-schwein-ringen-wettkampf-usa-hog-wild (German)
If you mean the video is totally pointless, well then I guess we have very different opinions about documentaries.
Thanks for the pun
how deeply mankind can sink
arghhh!!!
Maybe it teaches young farm girls / guys to herd pigs
That said, the pig still doesn't sound happy - but in reality, pigs never really sound happy, even when they're eating and grunting.
You have a point with pigs never sounding happy though. Weird sounding animals they are.
1 sony EX1
2 sony Z1
1 Canon XH-A1
It's not bull fighting but I understand how people are uncomfortable or even disgusted by this treatment of animals, even if they are raised to be slaughtered. I guess people who live in rural communities often have a very different relationship with animals.
Well, I have to say I really enjoyed the docu. Good length.
Also shows that America has some really interesting intrest in having fun.
While watching the video I thought, wow, this could never be done in my country (Netherlands), we even have a political party just for animals, they would go MAGOO over this.
And by looking at some of the comments here, I can see that there are people that can't see, or don't want to see the fun in this. I think it's a cultural issue. (Okey, maybe common sence to some)
I think the way people in other country's have Tuna festivals in the Tuna season, where they dus put big hooks in the living tuna and throw them on dry land and wait slowly till they are dead is a much bigger issue to go Magoo over.
That being said, everyone will have his own reason for being against something or not be. Good luck with whatever path you take.
For myself, the screaming pig was kinda sad and for that reason won't take part in it if someone would ask me to join, but I really enjoyed watching the way the documentary was put together, also very funny, had to laugh about the girls from Chicago!
vimeo.com/5412091
It's disrespectfull.
Very good story telling.
I have also been a pig wrestler at previous events, I have been a dairy farmer (never raised pigs), have degrees in earth and environmental sciences and consider myself an environmentalist and budding permaculturalist. I love animals and people (presently care for people with special needs) and am concerned about our separation from the natural world. This is a complicated world, so many things look black or white from a distance, but when you get close and simply observe first without judgment a different picture often emerges.
In the wild, of which these pigs have never known, their ancestors would have rooted in the soil looking for whatever they could eat, plant, animal or fungus. They would have been in groups being watchful for large predators. This stress of predators has been shown (in zoo experiments) to enhance the lives of prey by such things as increasing breeding rates.
I do not know the facilities that these pigs were raised in, but most pigs in the US are raised similar to cattle, chickens and turkeys-in large farms in very concentrated numbers. This is required as long as we choose to buy low cost meat. Their environment would not change very much and the exercise that these pigs received would have not been very high. Pigs seem to be very aware of the environment around them so as they were transferred away from the farm they would experience stress. Is this a bad thing? As pigs they do roughhouse, often resulting in minor to major injury's to each other. They are very loud squealing when interacting with each other. It would be very interesting to compare wild to domesticated pig behavior and perhaps that is what is required to really judge whether pig wrestling is really harmful to the pigs.
I believe the real question we each should be asking is should we support large scale factory farms-my concerns are not only the overall health and safety of the animals and our own health from eating them as well as the large scale environmental contamination from the sites and the huge amounts of land and energy used to support this type of agriculture.
I do eat pork, but chose to buy local from a small farmer that I know. I know how the pigs live, what they eat, and have even transported them to the butcher so I know how and where they die. As the price of pork and other meat goes up, I can certainly decrease further the amount of meat that I eat and perhaps forgo meat altogether, but this would be for resource limited reasons rather than any particular vegetarian reason.
I encourage you to study ecology because all of our lives depend on it. I consider ecology as the study of the relationships between living and non-living things on this planet. We are a part of this system and by no means in control of it.
After I review the video I will give further comments.
If anything though, the music softens the experience. As a former participant in pig wrestling at Wild West Days my experience was of extreme excitement, fear and self exploration. "Why did I ever agree to do this?, This is the stupidest thing you have ever agreed to do and you will never agree to do it again, You could get hurt-if not your body, then your pride-well forget the pride it is a mud pit and you are chasing a pig after all"
But waiting with your hand on the duct tape with your fellow insane teammates for the whistle amidst screaming spectators you force yourself to focus inward. The world slows and shrinks to the goal of getting the pig into the barrel. When that whistle is blown reactions become instinctive. Corner the pig, drive or drag him or her to the barrel and hope your teammates meet you somewhere in between. The weight of the pig usually requires at least two teammates to pick up and all three teammates must have their hand on the pig as it goes into the barrel-if you get that far.
I pig wrestled a couple of years and still can't understand why I agreed to it-especially the second time. Even before and still after I wonder about whether it is cruelty. As a person who's primary occupation is caring for people with physical and cognitive challenges I spend a lot of time trying to see the world through other peoples eyes. But other species are even more difficult. What is cruelty to a pig? Like humans pigs can be extremely gentle and caring (James Harriet-writer of "All Creatures Great and Small" writes in a book about a kitten that is grafted onto a sow after the kitten lost its mother) or extremely violent, injuring or killing each other or others. Often they will "ruff-house" like human siblings. They are very aural when interacting with each other, if you are close by they can be so loud you must cover your ears. At this point I believe it is fearful and exciting for the pigs also to be in the ring. This may be the first time they experienced mud. Since it is a new experience for most of them, they do not know what to expect. Since we cannot grab legs or ears and they have an extremely compact body the pigs should not experience much physical pain. This interaction is not unlike how I have observed interactions between pigs as they determine their pecking order. The main difference is that they are not trying to put each other into a barrel.
I do not raise pigs at my home, but I do raise a small flock of sheep. I move them over several small and large pastures and try to give them a home to enjoy most of their life. We can watch the lambs run around and play tag or follow the leader. Yet most will be shipped to slaughter in the fall. The males get castrated and all the lambs get their tails docked. Each time I feel the pain and wish there were other options for them. Is raising sheep economically viable?- Not the way I do it. But I get paid in other ways so the sheep provide me with small financial income, but they mow my lawn, are fun to watch and we will have neighbors hold them and we will teach people about sheep.
What is cruelty? As I mentioned in my previous comment I think we should question the bigger picture. What are the living conditions of these animals? Do we need to eat so much meat? If I choose to eat meat, then should I care about where it comes from and how the animals are raised? For that matter what about all food that we eat? Do I care if it is locally produced so I have the chance to know how it is raised and have some say in its production? Do I care about the resources that go into the production of my food? What alternatives can we choose? How much am I willing to pay or willing to raise myself?
I challenge you to find answers to these questions.
Someone had to use that bad pun....