Brad chats with Mark Baker from Baker’s Green Acres about the $700,000 fine the State of Michigan levied against him last week for “harboring” 70 heritage hogs on his property.
In late 2011, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources sent out a declaration stating that domestically raised hogs – with the exception of the ones used by the big pork industry – are an invasive species of wild boar “wreaking havoc” on wildlife and neighboring farms and ordering that they be destroyed. This Invasive Species Order, as it is called, lists nine vague characteristics describing the “wanted” pigs, leaving state officials to use their own discretion as to which pigs fit the bill. Now they’re including penned heritage breed pigs in the definition, because they’re supposedly breaking out and running amok in Michigan.
Baker is currently fighting the DNR’s rule in court. His pigs have never escaped and are under his watchful eye, but the state still sees them as a threat, and they are – not to the wilderness or other people’s private property, but to members of big agra-business, and they aim to destroy it.
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