Farmer eaten by his own hogs
October 2nd, 2012
08:02 AM ET

Farmer eaten by his own hogs

Authorities in Oregon are investigating how a hog farmer was eaten by his animals.

The remains of Terry Vance Garner, 70, were found in his hog enclosure Wednesday, according to local news reports Monday.

The farmer had gone to feed the hogs, some weighing as much as 700 pounds, about 7:30 a.m., according to a report from CNN affiliate KMTR. After Garner was not seen for several hours, a family member went to check on him and found his dentures in the hog pen. Other remains were found, but the hogs had eaten most of the farmer, according to the report.

The sheriff's department is looking into the death.

"Due to the unusual circumstances, the Sheriff's Office is investigating to determine if foul play may have resulted in the death of Mr. Garner," Coos County District Attorney Paul Frasier told CNN affiliate KVAL.

“For all we know, it was a horrific accident, but it’s so doggone weird that we have to look at all possibilities,” the Eugene Register-Guard quoted Frasier as saying.

Garner could have suffered a heart attack and fallen in the pen, or the hogs could have knocked him off his feet and then eaten him, Frasier told the newspaper.

The state of the remains made determining a cause of death difficult, according to the news reports. They had been sent to the University of Oregon and examined by a forensic anthropologist, the report said.

The farmer's brother, Michael Garner, told the Register-Guard that one of the sows had bitten the farmer last year after he accidentally stepped on a piglet.

“He said he was going to kill it, but when I asked him about it later, he said he had changed his mind,” Garner said.

Garner told the Register-Guard his brother was a Vietnam veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. The farm was "a life-saver," he said.

“Those animals were his life,” Garner told the Register-Guard.

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Filed under: Agriculture • Animals • Oregon
soundoff (641 Responses)
  1. Keith

    What a sad tale

    October 17, 2012 at 9:19 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Robert

    Makes you think twice about Miss Piggy.

    October 18, 2012 at 7:41 pm | Report abuse |
  3. DrCruel

    Beasts of England, Beasts of Ireland,
    Beasts of every land and clime,
    Hearken to my joyful tidings
    Of the Golden future time.

    Soon or late the day is coming,
    Tyrant Man shall be o'erthrown,
    And the fruitful fields of England
    Shall be trod by beasts alone.

    Rings shall vanish from our noses,
    And the harness from our back,
    Bit and spur shall rust forever,
    Cruel whips no more shall crack.

    Riches more than mind can picture,
    Wheat and barley, oats and hay,
    Clover, beans and mangel-wurzels
    Shall be ours upon that day.

    Bright will shine the fields of England,
    Purer shall its waters be,
    Sweeter yet shall blow its breezes
    On the day that sets us free.

    For that day we all must labour,
    Though we die before it break;
    Cows and horses, geese and turkeys,
    All must toil for freedom's sake.

    Beasts of England, Beasts of Ireland,
    Beasts of every land and clime,
    Hearken well, and spread my tidings
    Of the Golden future time!

    October 19, 2012 at 7:21 pm | Report abuse |
  4. tutuvabene

    Those who like good legislation and good sausage should not see how either are made.

    October 22, 2012 at 10:17 am | Report abuse |
  5. Aubrie

    I had NO idea that pigs were vicious animals, that they would attack a human or even that they had a taste for meat. Not to mention eating the person that fed and cared for them. This is weird on so many levels.

    October 26, 2012 at 12:43 pm | Report abuse |
    • Farmer in the dell

      Pigs will most certainly attack a human. They can be quite vicious and aggressive. The fact that they are intelligent makes them even more dangerous. Sows especially. I remember a classmate being chased out of a pen in high school(we wnt to an aggie school) We were gathering the piglets to be castrated and the one my classmate grabbed started squealing. That was all it took. Sow got hold of his jacket as he was climbing over the pen enclosure. He had to shrug off the jacket to get away. And. The frigging sow remembered him. Every time he entered that barn the sow would charge the fence. They can be very dangerous animals

      October 27, 2012 at 1:53 pm | Report abuse |
  6. NoDoubt

    This reminds me of the movie Hannibal

    October 26, 2012 at 3:47 pm | Report abuse |
  7. ed

    This little piggy went market

    This little piggy went home

    This little piggy went "wiii.wiii,wiii"

    All the way to the bone

    October 28, 2012 at 1:02 am | Report abuse |
  8. DarqueSide

    Pigs with a taste for long pig... oh the irony.

    October 28, 2012 at 1:37 pm | Report abuse |
  9. bob

    who are going to be the lucky people to get the bacon made from these pigs that ate a human

    October 29, 2012 at 3:39 pm | Report abuse |
  10. Brooke

    Sounds a lot like a murder cover up to me, but who knows.

    October 30, 2012 at 10:10 am | Report abuse |
  11. Rico53

    I`m glad i stopped eating pork years ago.

    October 30, 2012 at 6:06 pm | Report abuse |
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