A pig farmer in Orange who has been given until the end of the day Tuesday to retrieve his loose pigs — or else have state and federal officials step in to “address this situation” — said he needs more time.
Walter Jeffries, the owner of Sugar Mountain Farm on Riddle Pond Road, said 99% of his 250 pigs were back in his fields on Tuesday, but some remained loose.
“It’s a matter of me continuing to physically tighten up things that are loose and getting the electric wires all secure,” he said Wednesday in a telephone interview.
Jeffries said he’s asking the state to give him a one-week extension to round up the rest of his pigs.
“They said they’re going to hunt them down and kill them if they need to,” Jeffries said.
State veterinarian Kristin Haas sent Jeffries a letter Aug. 28, warning him to contain the pigs by Sept. 10 before the state takes “appropriate steps to address this situation.”
Haas officially asked for the United States Department of Agriculture’s help on Tuesday. She said she didn’t know if killing the pigs — or any other specific actions — might be in the cards.
Scott Waterman, the Agency of Agricultre’s spokesperson, said Haas and USDA officials planned to visit Jeffries’ farm on Wednesday and speak with him about what the next steps will be.
“There’s no plan of action, per se, other than that,” he said.
Meanwhile, the town has been fining Jeffries under its nuisance animal ordinance for each pig that’s been in the town right-of way since Aug. 16. Total fines totaled $136,000 on Monday, according to Town Clerk Angela Eastman ( officials have said they don’t actually expect the farmer to pay up).
Orange Select Board member Eric Holmgren, who has counted the pigs everyday since they escaped, saw four pigs in the road around 4 p.m. on Monday (which works out to about 1.6% of the 250 pigs).
“We’ve deemed them as nuisance animals and he needs to confine them in some way,” Holmgren said.
Holmgren said the number of pigs in the road has declined in the past few days, but neighbors are still seeing sows and piglets destroying their yards.
Rebecca O’Meara, who lives down the road from Jeffries, said Monday night that a sow and her piglets were living on her property.
“I spent all last weekend chasing pigs,” she said.
This isn’t the first time the pigs have escaped onto her property. Last year, Jeffries’ pigs got loose and destroyed her lawn, costing thousands of dollars in damages, she said.
“We’ve always been very respectful of Walter and his privacy,” O’Meara said. “I want the same from him.”
O’Meara said she’s concerned the pigs will keep getting out until somebody takes action.
“It’s just going to be a continuing thing,” she said.
Jeffries said he’s been working on his fences for 14 hours everyday since the hogs escaped, but he still hasn’t corralled all of them back on his property.
“It’s me doing the work because the town scared (my employees) away,” he said, explaining his employees quit after a town official came to his property and yelled at him about the pigs.
“The whole thing has been vastly exaggerated by the state,” Jeffries said. “The pigs stayed right here on my farm, except for a couple sows that went down to my neighbor’s.”
During a visit to Orange late last month, a VTDigger reporter saw multiple sows and dozens of piglets on the loose along Riddle Pond Road, which leads to Jeffries’ farm.
Jeffries said his fence wire was cut and his farm was vandalized by a former employee, which caused the pigs to escape.
Vermont State Police say they are investigating an unrelated burglary at his farm. Jeffries said about $3,000 worth of tools, including welders and tool kits, were stolen on Aug. 23, just after he returned from a business trip.
Jeffries said the numerous public safety concerns about the pigs being loose had been exaggerated.
“They’re sensationalizing this thing,” Jeffries said. “They’re saying the pigs will go feral—the pigs will not go feral, they’ll die.”
