The American Livestock Breeders Conservancy lists the breed as critically endangered, so years ago, John Barbaccia decided to raise the hogs to help the population.
He figured property he owned in the Victoria community would be a good place to raise the hogs, despite the presence of wild natural predators like coyotes.
In late September, though, Barbaccia said it wasn’t wild animals that proved his hogs’ biggest threats.
He claims neighbors’ dogs, domesticated animals, killed three of his breeding females – two of which were pregnant.
Gone were a few of the 2,000 known red waddle hogs and some of its future – plus one-and-a-half years of raising the females. The incident has caused Barbaccia to question why Coffee County has no leash laws in place.
“These dogs have more rights than humans. I can’t just wander onto someone’s property,” he said. “These dogs run loose in a pack, and they develop a pack mentality.”
That mentality makes dogs more aggressive, Barbaccia added.
Story of the waddle
Anecdotally, red waddles are believed to be first discovered on New Caledonia, an island off the Australian coast. The hogs were huge since they had no natural predators on the island, Barbaccia said.
Eventually, they were brought to the United States, where they were popular for awhile, according to the organization Slow Foods USA, which promotes food that is healthy to eat and healthy to grow.
As settlers moved west, the need for fatter hogs for lard and its several usages grew, so the waddles became less popular and were left to roam eastern Texas, www.slowfoodsusa.org said.
Eventually, they were hunted to near extinction. In fact, many thought they were extinct until the 1970s when H.C. Wengler found a drove in Texas and bred them with a red Duroc, Barbaccia said.
Eventually, another group was found in South Carolina, but recently, the numbers of waddles were around 2,000, Barbaccia said – making breeding the hog important.
Barbaccia raises hogs, encounters dogs
Barbaccia said he first raised the hogs not only to grow the species’ numbers but for health reasons. Waddles have never been feed soy, which some studies show increase estrogen levels in humans.
Since then, he has discovered how well the hogs root for grubs. They also kill the root systems for many weeds and unwanted plant life.
Barbaccia, who began raising the hogs several years ago, allows sows to have a few litters before slaughtering for meat. Most of the pigs reach 800 pounds before being harvested.
But recently, three of his sows didn’t get to those points. In late September, some neighbors called Barbaccia to let him know a pack of dogs were heading toward the hogs.
Those neighbors also called the Coffee County Sheriff Office. By the time Barbaccia, who lives away from the property where he raises the hogs, reached the pen, three of his sows were badly injured or dead.
Two dogs remained in the pen and were shot. One of the sows had to be euthanized.
“Witnesses say there were six neighborhood dogs,” Barbaccia said.
Frank Chirico, CCSO’s agricultural crimes investigator, confirmed domesticated-type dogs were responsible for the hogs’ deaths.
Legal fallout
State laws do exist to protect livestock farmers in cases like Barbaccia’s, however, one important caveat does exist, Chirico said.
“From a criminal standpoint, it is illegal to harbor a stock-killing dog, but a dog is not a killer until (the) animal kills livestock,” he said. “Essentially, for lack of a better term, your dog gets one free bite at the apple.”
Chirico said it is unknown which dogs were involved and whether they were involved in killing other livestock before. He has had reports of dogs harassing livestock throughout the county.
“Assuming (Barbaccia) knows, he needs to contact us. At that point, he could take out a warrant,” Chirico said.
Chirico said Barbaccia also can take the dogs’ owners to civil court to recoup losses, but Barbaccia feels this is not enough and wants some kind of leash law in place.
“I wake up at nights with visions that those are my kids (that are killed),” he said. I don’t know what has to happen. Does a child have to die?”
Animal control issues are nothing new to Coffee County.
“We looked at this one time, and the county contracted with the Elba pound,” said Kim Ellis, District 2 commissioner. “The cost of enforcing a law would be astronomical. One man to cover this county (is not enough). I don’t know how you would regulate all the animals in Coffee County.”
The Coffee County Commission does provide residents with traps they can borrow free of charge if they have nuisance animals. If the animals are domesticated, they should be taken to the Elba pound, Ellis said.
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| File photo of the red wattle hog |
Determining domestication, though, provides another problem, Chirico said.
“In the country, a lot of the dogs are just strays that are dropped off,” he said. “It’s not always a matter of that this dog belongs to this person.”
Chirico added this does not appear to be the case in Barbaccia’s issue.
Outside the legal avenues, Chirico said one final recourse is available.
“Bottom line, if I had dogs that were trying to kill my livestock, I would feel justified in shooting them. You are not required to stand by and let that happen,” Chirico said.
(Dothan Eagle - Jan 17, 2013)
