Giant pig on a Pilbara cattle station

Hoax or not? Very giant pig.

Source:
News.com

THIS giant feral pig was shot on a Pilbara cattle station after it was spotted eating a dead cow.

It was written off as a hoax by many, including WA's Department of Environment and Conservation, and sparked much debate when published on website PerthNow.

But The Sunday Times has confirmed that the pig was shot on a Pilbara cattle station near Newman, 1200km northeast of Perth.

Sources close to the family of the man in the photo have confirmed he is Pilbara pastoralist John Anick and the picture was taken on his property three years ago.

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Hey,

Looks real enough (especially with the shadows on the ute in the left hand side. I've seen pigs that size on the West Coast of New Zealand, so I can't rule it out.

The Pilbara is a tough place to survive though. Still if anything could do it, a pig could. The guy looks like an straight-up, honest WA'er to be sure. (As we all are!)

Shane

Yeah it's real, pigs have adapted well to the environment, there's no reason for a few to get huge like this one.

There is another site that claims Florida as the home of that hog.

floridahogtrappers.com...

And one that claims Texas.
texascryptidhunter.blogspot.com...

we may never know if its real(photoshopped) or where it was shot (AU or US)

Poor thing. I suppose pigs are not native to Australia but this beast is beautiful.

Wonder if the pig killed the cow or was feasting on a cow that naturally died.

Also, are they aggressive/dangerous?

Originally posted by shamus78
I've seen pigs that size on the West Coast of New Zealand, so I can't rule it out.

Yeah I remember seeing some bush pigs on the west coast (Near Blackball) there they were pretty ugly woman to boot - ha ha

gadfrees!! that thing is as big as a cow......

I bet the feast to be had after roasting such a thing would feed a good sized town!!


[edit on 1-6-2009 by theRiverGoddess]

There is another site that claims Florida as the home of that hog.

If only we could see what side the steering wheel is on that ute.

Hey now lets not forget the ever popular

Hogzilla

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d9748bc423e7.jpg[/atsimg]

[edit on 1-6-2009 by SLAYER69]

Still waiting on whether this one a fake or was a real hog... could be photoshop..... may need some experts on this.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a0207c13d7d3.jpg[/atsimg]

Hi,

Just tried to find John's phone number. Couldn't find it but I'll head to the library tomorrow and look at the physical one for the region. Please don't anybody else do it though, I don't want to annoy the guy.

As for the picture I'm looking for anything that would make it more likely to come from WA, Australia (just because it's in my state and I know what the Pilbara looks like.)

The red dirt under the car and around the wheels is very typical of almost the whole of WA. Same for the bull bar and the ute. Do you guys have red dirt over in Florida or Texas?

I'm beginning to get interested. If there's one thing I love it chasing up leads.

Anybody got an idea of what type of trees they are in the background - even a rough idea?

Shane

Originally posted by shamus78
Anybody got an idea of what type of trees they are in the background - even a rough idea?

Time to be serious try SALMON GUM TREE. when I worked in WA there were plenty of these trees in the south e.g. Kalgoolie and Perth upwards Leonora and Mt Keith.

Hope this helps.

All this species discrimination against pigs is absolutely outrageous.
I hope the moderators here take note.

Yeah I remember seeing some bush pigs on the west coast (Near Blackball) there they were pretty ugly woman to boot - ha ha

Yeah, I remember they would all flood into Hokitika on dole day and drink in the Westland Hotel. That hotel deserved it's reputation!

Anyway

The reason I asked about the trees is because so many of our native trees in Oz are unique to this part of the world. Looking at different images now, will post back if I think I can id them.

Thanks for your suggestion Greenfruit.

reply to post by shamus78


Hiya mate, another fellow West Aussie here.


Pretty hard to tell exactly what kind of trees are in the background although they do look like some sort of Eucalyptus.

To me the picture is genuine and from Australia.

The ute is what you'd expect to see, including the back hanging low from the height of the pig.

What the guy is wearing is what you'd expect to see as well.

A lot of people claim it's from Oz. I can see what they mean. One thing I noticed is that his ute is facing the way it would if you just pulled over, i.e it looks like the ute drives on the left hand side of the road.

I'm no expert, but I'm ruling out a gum tree, mostly due to the color of the bark in the photo and the leaf structure. Also gum trees seem to have very exposed trunks and the tree in the photo is a wide, droopy tree. But then again, I'm just guessing and would welcome anyone's guess as to what type of tree it is.

After searching around a bit I found out the poor guy lost his handguns as well:

Pastoralist Loses Gun License

While this guy seemed pretty sure it was a hoax:

An Open Letter to the Sunday Times

More readers comments, very interesting read:

Readers Comments

It includes a mention of Tenacity Contracting up in the Pilbara... for which there's no record of in the online white pages.

Then a search of Australian Business Numbers came up with this:

41 681 085 723 Active TENACITY CONTRACTING Trading Name 6721 WA

6721 is the postcode for the Pilbarra region. Will contact them tomorrow and ask around. It's always the easiest way!

Favorite quote from the readers comments?

Thats my Ex Wife hanging up there

Right now I'm cruising the highway around the Pilbarra region in Google Earth's street view looking for a sign for Wilarrana Station, which is where one person claims the pig was from.

I might leave it for tonight though (got too many things to do) so I'll get back to you tomorrow after work (about this time) and hopefully have some more info.

Cheers

Shane

Whoops double post!!

Shane

[edit on 1/6/09 by shamus78]

reply to post by shamus78


There about a thousand different Eucalyptus species in WA alone.

So getting an exact match from that one picture will be difficult, even for a horticulturalist like myself.

Of course you could reduce that number by finding out the ones that grow in the Pilbara.

If you want to Flora Base is the best place to find out.

Awesome, thanks for the link Chadwickus.

And hello from Margaret River!

Shane