hogzilla

Computer modeling and DNA confirmed what Jack Mayer suspected all along about one of the largest hogs killed in Georgia.

"It came back 100 percent domestic, which we kind of expected to happen," the Aiken, S.C., biologist and feral hog expert said of the 1,100-pound porker shot last January by Fayetteville hunter Bill Coursey.

Mayer, lead consultant for National Geographic's 2005 hour-long special on the "Hogzilla" pig killed in Alapaha, studied the Coursey pig using a unique computer program.

"It's done by measuring the skull," he said. "It's a multi-varied analysis that uses linear measurements. You put it in as an unknown among the known groups: Eurasian wild boar, feral hogs, wild boar/feral hog hybrids and domestic pigs."

The results, which also were confirmed by tests from a Wisconsin genetics lab, determined the beast was a domestic pig running loose.

Although legends that feral and Eurasian hogs can reach such mammoth proportions, the evidence shows that such pigs are typically farm-raised domestic swine, Mayer said.

Now that smallmouths have been confirmed as the Savannah River's newest residents, a consortium of local outdoorsmen will try to convince Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue that a smallmouth hatchery could become a huge outdoor tourism draw.

"There's a group of us who started talking a year and a half ago about stocking smallmouth in the river," said Jim Cox, president of Southeastern Marketing. "We've been able to get nowhere, though."

The concern from wildlife authorities, he said, was that adding smallmouth to the river could eliminate the native redeye bass that have lived there for centuries.

In recent months, however, anglers have been catching smallmouth - or at least smallmouth - redeye bass hybrids in the Savannah River shoals, which means the fish are here anyway.

Therefore, Cox said, it might be time to revisit the idea of establishing a smallmouth hatchery in Augusta and placing enough fish in the shoals to generate its own tourism economy.

The group plans to make a request for money on Perdue's "Go Fish Georgia" initiative, which has set aside $19 million for tournament ramps, an aquarium and other facilities around the state that would generate tourism from fishing.

"It would make this area the southernmost smallmouth bass fishery in the country and get on the tournament trails," he said. "Smallmouths love that cold water and oxygen levels in that part of the river are getting to where they would survive very well."

Hogzilla is the name given to a wild hog hybrid that was shot and killed in Alapaha, Georgia, United States, on June 17, 2004 by Chris Griffin on Ken Holyoak's farm and hunting reserve.[1] It was alleged to be 12 feet (3.6 meters) long and to weigh 1,000 pounds (450 kg). Originally it was considered a hoax. [2]

The animal's remains were exhumed in early 2005 and studied by scientists from the National Geographic Society for a documentary. In March 2005, these scientists confirmed that Hogzilla actually weighed 800 pounds (360 kg) and was between 7.5 and 8 feet (2.25 and 2.4 meters) long, diminishing the previous claim. DNA testing was performed, revealing that Hogzilla was a hybrid of wild boar and domestic swine. [2] Hogzilla was part domestic (Hampshire breed) and part wild boar. However, compared to most wild boars and domestics, Hogzilla is still quite a large and extraordinary specimen.[3]

According to the examiners, Hogzilla's tusks measured nearly 18 inches (46 cm), and nearly 16 inches (41 cm), which was a new record for North America.


[edit] Dispute with National Geographic Society
Ken Holyoak, the man upon whose farm the boar was shot and killed, has disputed the findings made by the National Geographic Society documentary. Holyoak said that Hogzilla weighed 1,000 pounds (450 kg) when he weighed it on his farm scales, and that he personally measured the hog's length at 12 feet (3.6 meters) while it dangled by the straps from a backhoe. It is possible he measured from end of hoof to nose (while suspended with gravity stretching the animal) rather than from end of tail to nose (as a creature might be measured while alive and in a standing position), which might account for some of the discrepancy between his measurements and those of National Geographic.

"As with any organic being after death, tissues will decompose and the body will atrophy, making actual measurements change over time," Holyoak said. "Have you ever seen a raisin after it was a grape?"

Nancy Donnelly, the producer of the National Geographic documentary, stated that the scientists who made the measurement had already accounted for "shrinkage" when they stated their estimates.