Friday, November 13, 2009

Are Pigs Destructive?

Mangalitsa photo by Ring Tamas.

I saw a question at answers.com about pigs:
Are pigs destructive?
The answer:
Pigs can be destructive, but are not always destructive. It depends on the pig. If the pig is usually very calm and collected, it isn't very destructive. If it is usually hyper and angry, it is usually very destructive. It also depends on how tame the pigs are. There are a number of factors that play into this, but pigs can be destructive. Most of the time, they aren't.

Historically, it was clear:

The public's attitude towards pigs — which, to be fair, was based on the fact that the animals were notoriously destructive in their search for food and were deemed, according to historian Joseph Felt, "dangerous to the life and limb of young children" — can be seen in a deal made between Salem selectmen and John Cromwell in 1680. Cromwell was given permission to use the Burying Point on what is now Charter Street for grazing cattle, sheep or other animals, "Except swine which we alow not...".


And then there's wild pigs:

With a title as alarming as "the most harmful invasive mammal in the world," it's no wonder that Oregon officials worry about the spread of feral pigs. They'll eat almost anything and root up the ground anywhere they gather. Weeds are the only species able to come back after that destruction.




One thing I find funny about Mangalitsa pigs, particularly the blonds, is that they look very cute even as they destroy stuff. A bit like a Komondor - a mean Hungarian dog that looks disarmingly cute.

2 comments:

panay007 said...

My friend Henry Michel would like to buy a pig ! Don't kow why, but he loves pigs ! Would you have an advice to give him ?

Megütaguta said...

The answer is: yes, the pigs are destructive, they are the most evil animals on the Earth. The devil of the evils is the Mangalitsa, since it was domesticated by the Huns, and it is a well known fact, that Attila drank Mangalitsa blood before the raiding parties. Some ancient source describes, that war-Magalitsas were croped by the Huns - that is the origin of the "war-pig" expression.

Stay away from Mangalitsa!