20050908 Loose pigs no longer terrorize Marston

Loose pigs no longer terrorize Marston area

By Carrie Ann Knauer, Times Staff Writer

Carroll County Times

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Residents in Marston say they haven't seen any loose pigs in their neighborhood since the county Right to Farm Reconciliation Committee made its ruling five months ago stating that the loose pigs were probably wild.

Elizabeth Cavey, of Bowersox Road, said she had seen the pigs last winter when they were running loose and tearing up people's lawns, but said she hasn't seen any since the reconciliation committee meetings. Cavey, who said she never believed the pigs were feral, thinks local landowners may have shot and killed all of the loose pigs.

Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture visited the Marston area about six weeks ago in search of feral pigs, said Bill Powel, county ag preservation administrator and supervisor of the ag reconciliation committee. Four people searched the woods and farms in the area for several hours and were unable to find any pigs or recent evidence of pigs, he said.

The USDA officials have offered the county to search the area again later this fall to look for more evidence. Powel said the date of that investigation has not been set.

Powel said that he has not had any residents call him to report loose pigs or other livestock roaming through their yards. He said it's possible that between the Humane Society of Carroll County trapping the pigs and the local landowners shooting them, there may not be any more feral pigs.

Richard Spriggs, a Marston Road resident, said he has lived in the area for more than 30 years and he had never heard of wild pigs living in Marston before this case came up last winter. Spriggs said that regardless of where the pigs came from, he hasn't seen any in a long time.

While Marston residents haven't reported any more problems with loose pigs or other livestock coming from the Schisler farm, the Schislers have still had problems with their neighbors. On Aug. 28, the Schislers reported to the Maryland State Police that someone had shot one of their cows.

According to the police report with the Carroll County Sheriff's Office, Carroll Schisler Sr. said he was walking through his field at about 2:20 p.m. on Aug. 28 when he saw a calf standing near a Brahman cow that was lying on its side. Schisler told the police he approached the cow to investigate its health and saw that it had been shot in the head. He called the police to report the incident, which is still under investigation.

The Schislers could not be reached for comment regarding the incident, but Carroll Schisler Sr. did testify during the ag reconciliation meetings that he had had problems during the winter with neighbors shooting his livestock on his property.

Powel said he had not heard about the Schisler's cow being shot, and said he was sorry to hear that the incident had happened. Assistant County Attorney Tim Burke said that the law states that people may not shoot trespassing animals unless the property owners are in imminent danger, and shooting animals that are not trespassing is not allowed.

Anyone with information regarding the shooting is asked to call Deputy Sherri Martin at 410-386-2900.

Story so Far

More than a dozen residents gave testimony to the Right to Farm Agricultural Reconciliation Committee between January and March about loose pigs trespassing on their property, uprooting their grass with their snouts and chasing the homeowners and their children.

Residents testified that they believed the pigs were coming from Carroll Schisler Sr.'s farm in the 2500 block of Marston Road. Several residents said they had confronted the Schislers about the pigs and the Schislers offered to shoot the pigs for them, which residents took to mean that the Schislers owned the pigs and were responsible for them.

Agricultural experts from the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension testified that the pigs in the photographs provided by neighbors did not look like the quality of pig a farmer would raise to make money from, and said that the pigs possibly were feral, probably having escaped from a farm at some time and reverted to a wild state.

In addition, the two experts visited Schisler's farm and examined his pigpen. They determined that it was an adequate pen that should be able to contain his pigs.

The reconciliation committee decided that the pigs were likely feral pigs. However, regardless of whether the pigs belong to Schisler, the committee ordered the Schislers to repair their fence to the standards appropriate for the types of animals he pens - sheep, goats, horses and cattle - to the recommendations of the cooperative extension.