Iowa Hogs Attempt To Sabotage Levee

Burlington, Iowa. June 19, 2008

Fifteen hogs escaped from several "large hog confinement facilities" and tried to tear down a levee on the swollen Cedar River before being shot by sheriff's deputies.

Ok, so score one for our side. The flooding in Iowa is no joke, and these hogs could have caused significant damage. This should give us all pause.

I'm not getting complacent. There were a few troubling items in the article. "Confinement facility" -- meaning a prison? So these hogs are dangerous enough that they need to be jailed (albeit apparently at insecure facilities). Secondly, the deputies were equipped with AR-15 semiautomatic rifles. That's a lot of firepower to bring down fifteen pigs. You'd think a local farmer or two could handle them, but apparently the sheriff's department and the National Guard needed to get involved.

Just what is going on with the hogs in Iowa?