Humane Society seeks Indiana pig wrestling ban

If River Valley Humane Society and its nearly 10,000 supporters have their way, there will be no pig wrestling at the Harrison County Fair this year.

Supporters of the Humane Society in Indiana's Crawford County are expected to speak out against a fair board move to include pig wrestling — described on the River Valley Humane Society's website as an activity in which pigs are "assaulted by teams of humans" — in the 2015 fair's festivities.

"It's just a mistreatment of animals first and foremost," said River Valley Humane Society founder and President Tanya Tuell, 57, of Elizabeth. "If someone did this to a dog or a cat, they'd be charged with cruelty immediately."

The Humane Society will attempt to sway fair board members during a meeting Wednesday night with a month of research and a series of petitions. An online petition campaign launched last weekend has gathered nearly 10,000 supporters from around the world.

But fair board president Jeff Byerly said there is little chance they'll succeed, since the board has already contracted with a Rushville, Ind. promoter who will put on the pig wrestling event on the Wednesday of fair week in Corydon.

Allowing the Humane Society to talk, he said, was more of a courtesy. Pig wrestling is something the board had been talking about for years, Byerly said, and when it was endorsed as a "great show" at a recent fair convention in Indianapolis, they decided to make it a reality.

The pig wrestling in Corydon will include teams of four humans who pay to chase a pig in a muddy arena, Byerly said. If the humans can catch the pig in the 30- to 45-second time limit — something he said rarely happens — they have to touch the pig to a rubber tire.

The pigs have health records, Byerly said, and they'll be walking through disinfectant before getting in the ring. There will be a veterinarian on site, just in case.

The Harrison County Fair, which will be held July 12-18 in Corydon, is one of the oldest — if not the oldest — county fair in Indiana.

The practice of pig wrestling is uncommon — if not non-existent — in Kentucky. Gib Gosser, who works with about 100 county fairs annually in his capacity as the executive director of the Kentucky Association of Fairs and Horse Shows, said he has never even heard of it.

Tuell once had a Yorkshire sow named Sparkle, and although Sparkle never wrestled, raising her made it apparent to Tuell just how intelligent and sensitive pigs are. Sparkle didn't like strangers, and she reacted to foreign situations in a way similar to other domesticated animals.

"I don't believe that anyone at the fair board or anybody thinking this was a good idea woke up one morning and said, 'Let's go be mean to pigs,'" said Tuell, who suggested that human participants of pig wrestling lacked a connection with agricultural animals.

"This animal is just so foreign to them," she said. "They don't have a conflict in treating them this way."

In addition to concerns about animal cruelty, the Humane Society is also concerned pig wrestling may pose a threat to the human participates, who Tuell said often come into contact with urine or feces expelled by a pig that feels threatened.

During the fair board meeting, Tuell said, the Humane Society will suggest alternatives to the pig wrestling event, among them a mixed-breed dog show to advocate pet adoption.

But Byerly said he has talked to representatives in at least four Indiana county fair boards. They only have good things to say about pig wrestling, he said — and none of them received any pushback from animal activists.

Byerly, on the other hand, has heard from people all over the country.

"It's gotten really stupid," he said. "... I mean, I have a voicemail on my phone right now from some lady in Oklahoma ranting and raving about this."

Byerly maintains there's no basis to any concerns about pig wrestling. Board members just want a "good, entertaining show."

"Nobody wants to see any animals hurt," he said.

Reporter Kirsten Clark can be reached at (502) 582-4144 or on Twitter at @kirstenlmclark.