Police officer shot boy's pig after it allegedly attacked neighbour's dog

A State Trooper shot a boy’s pig on Monday, in a rural area of Woodbine, New Jersey, after a neighbouring homeowner complained that the animal, which had escaped its pen, was aggressive, and had charged him and attacked his dog. “My son had been raising that pig since February or March,” said Victor A. Hartley, a Woodbine resident. “The pig was kept in a pen,” he said. “A couple of times he wandered out of the yard.” The pig, a neutered boar named Hatfield, weighed somewhere between 245 and 280 pounds, and Eathan Hartley, 12, planned to show the hog at this year’s fair, the boy’s father said. Monday was to be Hatfield’s last day in Woodbine. The pig was scheduled to be sent to the fairground on Tuesday.

After showing the swine at the fair, Hatfield would have auctioned off for slaughter, and the boy expected to net about $1,000, Hartley said. “He wasn’t a wild boar,” Hartley said. “He had a tag in his ear, and my neighbour knew it was our pig.” Area neighbours disagreed with Hartley’s benign assessment of the pig’s temperament, two different state police spokesmen said on Tuesday. According to Sgt. Siino, a trooper at the Woodbine barracks, Woodbine’s animal control office had received at least two previous calls complaining about Hatfield. “I was actually working last Thursday when we got a call at the station in reference to the pig,” Siino said. Last week’s call was referred to Shore Animal Control, Siino said.



Linda Gentille, public information officer for Shore Animal Control, said that her agency had fielded several calls during the last week about Hatfield, and that the pig had attacked animals on a neighbour’s property in the past. On Monday, an animal control officer responded to another complaint about Hatfield, and it was that officer who called state troopers for assistance with the pig when it escaped from its home and wandered onto a neighbour’s property. “It was the neighbour that called it in,” Gentille said. “The pig was in their yard and aggressive. The neighbour felt threatened by the pig.” Gentille said there’s no safe way to corral a 250-pound pig, and the control officer called for back-up from state police. “When the trooper responded, there was a pig on the property,” said Sgt. Jeff Flynn. “It had attacked the owner’s dog, and injured the dog.”

According to Siino, the homeowner also reported that the pig was aggressive had charged him. “When the trooper responded, the pig was trying to get into a metal fence after other animals,” Siino said. “It was charging the fence, and the trooper was worried that it was going to attack the other animals.” Flynn said that the trooper and animal control officer tried to secure the pig. “They were unable to do so, and they made the decision that they had to put it down.” Siino said the responding trooper, Sgt. Cantoni, shot the pig three times with his 9 mm handgun. Siino said the animal control officer finally dispatched the pig. “He used a knife to bleed out the animal to make sure it was deceased,” Sinno said. “I wish they had tranquilised him,” Hartley said on Tuesday. “Muzzled him, or something,” he said. “Today was the day he was supposed to be at the fair.” Instead, Hartley said the pig has been taken to a slaughterhouse to be butchered.