If this hog from Russia is real, it might be the biggest of all time.
Unearthed pictures of a wild boar, which we are affectionately calling "King Kong Hog," spread over the Internet like wildfire a few years ago. If these pictures and story are real, then this hog from Russia is one of the largest wild boars ever taken by a hunter.
Peter Maximov, a pig hunter from Chelyabinsk, Russia, was hunting out of a tower near a favorite hog spot in the the Ussuriland, when a boar of epic proportions stepped out in front of him.
One shot later, Maximov reported that the hog, seemingly unfazed, ran off into the forest. After realizing how big the boar was that he just shot, Maximov was too scared to track it by himself so he called a local forest ranger to help.
Some time later, both men were able to find a blood trail and eventually track the boar to a place where it was bedded down, but still alive. Maximov then fired again, which enraged the hog and sent it into a full charge at both men. Quickly, a third shot was fired that finally brought down King Kong Hog.
Both men together couldn't move the pig so they tied it to Maximov's truck and drove it into the nearby village of Shokurov. From there, it was weighed out to an incredible 1,179 pounds! However, that's not all. The shoulder height measured out to 5 1/2 feet.
They've wreaked havoc on North American landscapes, but they've always been a part of Asian and European ecosystems. As an invasive species, wild hogs can take the blame for a number of issues that have popped up in recent years.
Thanks to their fine swine genetics, they can reproduce at lightning-fast speeds and pose a real threat to wildlife and habitat in North America, especially the southern regions. The first time a wild boar attacks a small dog or ruins a field of crops in your neck of the woods, it becomes clear what these things can do.
States have legalized plenty of hunting methods around the U.S., including the use of dogs, night hunting and trapping. Processors have even started to pay out for trapped wild hogs, and depending on the price of pork, a trapper can make a decent chunk of change.
But in reality, we've never seen anything like this.
For comparison, "Hogzilla," the giant pig from Georgia that made its rounds back in 2004, weighed in at only 794 pounds and had a shoulder height of 3 feet, 3 inches. It was huge for the United States, but parts of Europe and Asia have boars even bigger.
As you can see, this Russian hog is huge.
As we all know, the problem with the Internet is that photos can be doctored. Is this story legitimate? We can't be 100-percent sure. Considering it came from Russia, with little other evidence than these photos, we just don't know.
This is where you come in. Have you ever heard anything about this? Help us find out if this is in fact a real pig!
However, one thing to keep in mind, they say a picture is worth 1,000 words, and in this case, that might be all we have.
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