FLORIDA -- For the second time this year, a man has been charged in Sumter County for allowing his pit bull to maul hogs or pigs.
On Tuesday, it was 50-year-old Willie Wofford Jr., of Wildwood, who was apparently upset that the owner of the hogs owed him money when he allegedly set his pit bull into the pen, according to an arrest affidavit.
Wofford apparently fed the pigs for the owner.
At least one small pig was killed and a larger hog was left with a limp, reports said.
The incident occurred on County Road 244 in Wildwood.
According to an arrest affidavit, a woman heard the pigs and hogs screaming in her brother's pen and went to investigate.
She told investigators she saw Wofford in the pen holding a chain with a pit bull on the end. She added that the dog was latched onto the larger of the two pigs.
The unidentified woman said when she asked Wofford to explain the attack, he said, "Because your brother owes me $50. I feed these hogs and I'm going to get my money one way or another."
A responding Sumter County sheriff's deputy said that when he arrived, the smaller pig was lying on its side and not breathing, with its entrails protruding.
The larger pig was also lying down, but breathing hard and bleeding from its legs.
When a deputy caught up with Wofford on High Street in Wildwood about 15 minutes later, he
claimed his dog had gotten loose in the pen and attacked the pigs.
Deputies arrested Wofford on animal cruelty charges.
In January, Sumter deputies arrested a South Sumter High School student after pigs were found mutilated at his school. In that case, Dallace Lee Hatley, 19, was charged with animal cruelty and trespassing on school property.
According to an affidavit, Hatley confessed to the crime. But he contended he was walking his dog when they went by the pig pens at the school, and his animal started going crazy trying to get after the pigs.
The report added Hatley let his pit bull dog off his leash and into the pig pen.
Lt. Bobby Caruthers said Wednesday some people do train their dogs to hunt wild pigs, but setting them on domestic pigs and hogs is unusual.
Wofford couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday. He was initially jailed Tuesday in lieu of $2,000 bail for the animal cruelty charge, before seeing a judge early Wednesday.
His bail has been increased to $25,000.
(The Daily Commercial - July 21, 2011)
