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'American Hoggers'

Under Attack

for Ultra-Violent Pig Slaughter

10/22/2011 3:00 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF

The gun-toting family on A&E's new reality show "American Hoggers" are under fire from an animal rights group for the gruesome way the pigs are "tied up and shot" on the show ... TMZ has learned.

In case you haven't seen it -- "American Hoggers" follows Jerry "Hog Boss" Campbell ... and his family as they hunt and kill feral pigs ... armed with hunting dogs and guns. It's pretty graphic ... even for A&E.

The show just premiered this week -- and it didn't take long for PETA to take notice. In fact, the animal rights org. has just released a statement saying, "the Campbells' show promotes cruel animal-control measures and gross mistreatment of wildlife."

PETA claims it acknowledges that feral pigs can be problematic in parts of Texas, but the group says, "If property owners insist on lethal control, then feral hogs should be cage-trapped and afforded a quick, painless death."

We reached out to A&E for comment, and so far haven't received a response.

** WARNING -- the clip is very graphic **



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How can there possibly be more than one episode of that show? How many ways are there to kill a pig? And why don't they just shoot it when they see it? I'm not PETA fan, but tying it up first seems a little... dramatic.

791 days ago


Feral Hogs can be problematic in parts of Texas? How about all of Texas. Those hogs destroy farms and Ranches all over Texas they are a nuisance and this family is only attempting to make a small dent in the population across the State of Texas.

791 days ago


That wasn't anything wrong with that, I see worse than that on hunting shows. They didn't even show the shot to the head, just the after effects. I bet if you did a poll of "Is PETA wrong" or something like that it would be 80-90% saying PETA is stupid and need to shut up!

791 days ago

Curly Hair Guy Who Makes The Jokes Isn't Funny    

How many scripts are you running on this page? TMZ is the only site that freezes firefox, on my Windows 7 PC with 4 GB of ram, and only XP laptop. Maybe reduce the number of stories per page and oh yeah your video player sucks. Upload your videos to youtube, you miss something on your player you want to go back 5 seconds to hear it and you can't do that, it's like you have to start the video all over. Instead of wasting bandwidth and money hosting your own videos on your player that is inferior to everything else out there, just upload them to youtube like everyone else.

791 days ago


I watched the show and thought it was dumb. Everything should not be made into a show, on a different note what they dont tell you is that the pigs are slaughtered and food is given for the homeless so why doesnt peta tell you that part. They are feeding HUMANS.

791 days ago


What is so "ultra-violent" about killing a pig with a gun shot? If Peta doesn't like it let them catch them and kill them "nicely".

791 days ago

Swords Woman    

PETA people really piss me off sometimes. Let them go get the hogs that are destroying peoples livelihoods and make a petting zoo for themselves. "Here piggy-piggy!"

791 days ago

Jo Du    

**** people's "livelihoods". Animals deserve to live just like humans. They were here first.

791 days ago


Cage trapped? Are they kidding? So they would prefer that instead of spending their last few seconds of life in rage and/or terror, PETA would prefer the pigs spend the last few hours (or maybe even longer) in that state. How supremely stupid.

791 days ago


People Eating Tastey Animals
It's a hunting show, they humanely put that hog out of it's misery, that was one incident, they stopped that hog from injuring the dogs or the humans

791 days ago


Pigs are nasty creatures and will eat anything- including other animals and are capable of attacking people. Since PETA thinks they are so smart, let them send Pammy Anderson out to wrestle them into cages.

791 days ago

BossHoss Biker    

These morons give all of us who have to deal with this problem a bad name. These pests do the worst damage any animal can do to the land. We hunt them, kill as many as we can, and cannot keep up.

This "reality show" is only getting press because of the idiots in it. This in NOT the way this is handled in most parts of the infested area.

Hunts at night, multiple hunters , firing in line, and then waiting for the herd to regroup is SOP. The dogs complicate the hunt, and only serve to add "sport" to it.

Eradication of these dangerous destructive animals is needed in many parts of the country. It scares the hell out of me and my family that they may be coming to Upper Wisconsin. It will ruin our way of life.

I help kill these pests in the southern states for other parts of our family, and it is WORK, not fun.

Anyone who wants rail against this show, fine. It is overblown, blowhards with "kill shots" setup for the cameras.

Just don't use your mis-informed hate to judge those of us who struggle with this infestation that is ruining our lands. The meat is given food pantrys to feed those that cannot feed themselves.

Only mis-informed hating idiots would try to stop the eradication of this country's largest infestation of dangerous, damaging animals. They are NOT natural wildlife, they are bred from escaped hogs, and have adapted in the wild, killing and damaging everything they come across.

We are doing it for sport. Not at all.

791 days ago


The article fails to mention that the hogs are donated to a FOOD BANK, to feed the hungry.

791 days ago


The U-tube videos are where you see the gruesome stuff. The latest thing is to kill them with knives. The dogs each have a piece of the hog in their mouths to hold it and then the hunter shows up and stabs it several times in the neck.

791 days ago


PETA members should try living with these hogs before opening their big mouths. Lets see YOU, your CHILDREN, and your pets live with feral hogs for a while. After the destruction they make to your property and/or attacking your children, you would want them killed in ANY manner possible. Just think of all the diseases they carry.
Hog diseases that could have severe repercussions for agribusiness include swine brucellosis, pseudorabies, leptospirosis, tuberculosis, tularemia, trichinosis, plague, anthrax, hog cholera and swine vesicular disease.
Feral hogs are susceptible to a variety of infectious and parasitic diseases. The more hog populations increase and expand, the greater the chances that they may transmit diseases to other wildlife, to livestock and to HUMANS.
I will continue to Kill a feral hog every time I see one :)

791 days ago

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