src: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21838940-2,00.html
The giant pig that became known last week as "Monster Pig" after being killed by an 11-year-old boy had another name: Fred.
Far from wild, the 450kg pig had been raised on a farm at Fruithurst in Alabama and was sold just days before it was shot, the former owner said.
Phil Blissitt told The Anniston Star newspaper he bought the six-week-old pig in 2004 as a Christmas gift for his wife Rhonda.
"I just wanted the truth to be told. That wasn't a wild pig," Mrs Blissitt said, adding the animal was shot in a 60ha fenced area.
Jamison Stone, 11, shot the huge hog during what he and his father Mike described as a three-hour chase.
They said the pig was 2.7m long.
"We were told it was a feral hog," Mr Stone said.
"And we hunted it on the pretence that it was a feral hog."
Telephone messages left for the man who bought the pig from the Blissitts were not returned.
The Blissitts said they did not know the hog was Fred until they were contacted by a game warden for the Alabama Department of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries.
The agency determined that no laws were violated in the hunt.
Blissitt said the pig had become a nuisance and that visitors were often frightened by it, Stone said.
"He was nice enough to tell my son that the pig was too big and needed killing,'' Stone said.
"He shook Jamison's hand and said he did not kill the family pet.''
Mr Blissitt said he became irritated when he learned that some thought the photo of Fred was doctored.
"That was a big hog," he said.
