Kid Pig Shooter Faces AL Grand Jury

I doubt there is anybody on the blog who has not seen this infamous picture of then 11-year-old Jamison Stone with the monster pig he hand-gunned down in Alabama last May. As the story goes, it took him eight 350-grain bullets to finish off the 1,051-lb. porker. They had to get a tractor with a front-end bucket to haul the thing out the “hunting preserve.”

In the days following Jamison’s “hunt” (term used very, very loosely) the big pig caused a fuss. Newspapers from Dallas to NY to China covered the seemingly mythical beast. FOX News and the Today Show were all over it. Bloggers went crazy—I jumped in with 2 stupid posts.   

Jamison became a celebrity with his own website. He did interviews and was offered a part in a horror flick. A guy from Lynard Skynard wrote and offered pig-slaying congrats. Autographed posters of boy and swine sold for $9.95 (free shipping and handling).

All good things come to an end. People started digging and found out quick that the pig was not feral at all, but a pet named Fred that ate out of a woman’s slop bucket. In yet another bizarre twist, her husband apparently sold Fred to the preserve operator (for how much I don’t know).

Now for the serious news…

From an exclusive at ESPN Outdoors today: Stone this week will face a grand jury in Clay County to answer for possible animal cruelty charges. He and the four adults he trusted – who ultimately tricked him and an overeager press – are all subject to questioning, and possible enforcement. Read the whole story here.

I don’t know about Jamison, now 12, but those 4 grown men who were supposed to be supervising his “hunt” are in deep slop. 

Whatever the verdict, this will, thank the Lord, finally put this stinky story to rest.

Comments

[Nose4News55]

For those who are interested in the continuing saga, here's an update on the MONSTER PIG case:

"In January, a Clay County grand jury was to decide if the Monster Pig hunters committed animal cruelty. The public never heard that the District Attorney who was to prosecute the case suddenly canceled .

Now in April, another surprise. National Geographic UK film crew is in Alabama filming "Anatomy of a Hoax" about the monster hog killing. With all the unexpected twists and turns in this case, what else should the public know? Fred the pig may be dead but the consequences of his killing continue.

This monster pig case is not about hunting or hunters in general. It is isolated to the actions of only 3 men. The laws should have been able to deal with these three men, yet has not.

Hunters' silence regarding this incident may appear to the public, who are mostly non hunters, as condoning the manner in which Fred was slaughtered.

With enforcement, the issue goes away. It then becomes only 3 men that did this wrong---not an entire hunting culture.

For all of the above reasons, I believe hunters should lead the charge on recommending enforcement and defining right from wrong.

Another way of thinking about this case is its ability to educate the public about what ethical hunting traditions are about.

I would have never taken my son out to kill his first deer without my firm belief in the healthy and wholesome values such an experience brings to a young man or woman in one's charge.

These men have twisted this fine tradition into something unreal,ugly and pornographic. I personally will not stand for this case to represent --or hijack--the traditions I have endorsed, personally
participated in and exposed my children to."

Rhonda Roland Shearer, StinkyJournalism.com

For the rest of the story, check out:
Alabama's Monster Pig Hoax, One Year Later
http://www.stinkyjournalism.org/latest-journalism-news-updates-129.php