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Hernando Deputy's Taser No Match For Unruly Hog

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: October 14, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - So how does a stun gun work on a 450-pound porker?

Not so well, a Hernando County sheriff's deputy learned Monday after he was forced to pull his nonlethal weapon while trying to corral a swine on the loose in Royal Highlands.

Deputy Joseph Tibor responded to the 11000 block of Sage Thrasher Avenue after a resident called to complain about "an extremely large pig tearing up his yard," according to Tibor's written report.

When Tibor arrived, resident Bill Potter pointed out the offending animal: "approximately 450 pounds with large tusks," Tibor wrote.

At this point, a quick primer on the porcine family is in order: In the United States, hogs are mature swine that have grown beyond about 120 pounds. Male pigs are boars and have more pronounced tusks.

When Potter pointed out the prowling hog to the deputy, it was trying to get to his water fountain on the side of his house and destroying bushes in the process, Tibor wrote.

Just then, a passer-by with hog experience happened to come along.

Darrell Plank, who lives a few miles away on Grove Road, offered to help get the animal into his trailer.

The hog didn't like that one bit.

The reddish-colored swine "showed aggression" and "lunged" at Tibor and other residents who stopped to help, prompting Tibor to fire his Taser.

"This had no [effect] on the pig as it quickly ran off with the Taser probes," Tibor wrote.

"They had to do what they had to do, but it didn't do no good," Plank recalled Tuesday. "They have a fighting shield on their sides, and you can't penetrate that shield."

Plank roped the animal, and they dragged it into the trailer. By the time the animal was caught, the stun gun's probes — the two pointed pieces that stick into a victim and deliver the electrical jolt — were nowhere to be found.

Plank took the swine to his house on Grove Road. A native Hernando County resident and lifelong hog hunter, he has made many a sausage from his quarry.

Plank said he's "almost 100 percent sure" the animal is wild. If there is an owner, Plank said he will be happy to return the swine.

If not, he might release him on his property. Boars that big that haven't been castrated aren't good eating, he said.

Plank's wife, Dana, vouched for the animal's size and said she wouldn't mind having the hog around.

"I'm 5-[foot]-8, and he almost comes to my waist," Dana Plank said. "He's actually pretty, if you can consider a hog pretty."

If this hog sounds familiar, call the sheriff's office at (352) 754-6830.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at (352) 544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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