A 70-year-old farmer has been eaten by his ginormous pigs, which munched and scattered the body parts so thoroughly that investigators can’t determine a cause of death.
Terry Vance Garner of Riverton, Oregon, apparently died September 26 near his residence. He went to feed the pigs and never came back. The cause of death is unknown (natural causes? killed by a charging hog? foul play?), but it’s the treatment of his body post-death that is getting attention.
Cops launched an investigation after Garner’s relatives found the farmer’s dentures and body parts all over the pig enclosure, reports KVAL News:
There also were animal carcasses lying around near the scene.
Investigators haven’t ruled out homicide, though local sheriffs say there’s no obvious evidence of foul play.
The local district attorney said “It could have been an accident or a health problems such as a heart attack, and given his age one of the hogs could have been aggressive, knocking Garner to the floor. The hogs weigh 700 pounds or more,” reported KVAL. The D.A. says hogs ate too much of the farmer’s body to determine what caused the man’s death.
Pigs will eat pretty much anything, and they’ve been known to nosh humans in the past. A Romanian farmer’s wife was munched to death in 2004 after angry hogs knocked her out. They ate off her ears, half her face and her fingers. “I’ll never breed such beasts again,” her husband said.