Farmer seeks clues in pig poisoning case
By DAVID LOWE Staff Writer

PHOTO BY DAVID LOWE One of Lee and Tina Loeffler's hogs moves through a feeding pen the couple use near Mike Hail's house. Hail still keeps a few pigs close to his residence, but he has closed off one pasture since July, when four hogs died from eating fruit and vegetables tainted with a powerful pesticide.

After four hogs on his property died from poisoning, Mike Hail is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest or grand jury indictment of those responsible.

When Hail arrived in the evening of July 29 at his property on County Road 4026, he found one of his barrows dead and bleeding out of the nose.

Two days later, three more hogs lay dead. Veterinarian Scott Rushing checked the feed Hail had been giving the animals and saw nothing wrong with it, but after examining stomach contents and receiving laboratory results of tissue samples he determined the hogs died from poisoning by Temik, a powerful aldicarb pesticide.

"It was just massive amounts," Rushing said of the chemicals.

The hogs appeared to have died from asphyxiation after ingesting poisoned fruit and vegetables, the veterinarian said.

"Certainly in the terminal phases it was agonal," Rushing said of the animals' deaths.

Hail said he and his son Jake, who raised the hogs, along with Rushing and County Extension Agent Jason Byrd, who checked Hail's grass for chemicals, could have been killed if they had come in contact with the pesticide.

Just a few grams of aldicarb, the active ingredient in Temik, can kill a rhinoceros, the South African magazine Servamus reported Aug. 1. Poachers in South Africa have used the pesticide to kill rhinos and take their horns.

Skin or eye contact with Temik can be fatal, as the product absorbs quickly, according to material safety data sheets on manufacturer Bayer CropScience's Web site at bayercropscienceus.com. Inhalation of dust from the pesticide also can kill humans.

Company officials contacted Hail after the poisonings to express their condolences and to offer support as he looks for the individual, or individuals, who killed the hogs, the Lampasan said.

Students from Lampasas Independent School District agricultural science classes have visited Hail's property to observe the pig farm operation. A few days before the first poisoning, Lampasas High School agriculture teacher Dr. Steve Forsythe brought his grandson to Hail's land.

"If he'd brought him out a few days later, his grandson could've been killed," the pig farmer said.

Hail has hired two private investigators to seek clues about the crime, which is a felony punishable by prison time in a state penitentiary.

"They're talking about terroristic acts, hate crimes and all that," Hail said.

Game warden Jim Lindeman and federal game officials also are investigating, Hail said.

Judy Vann Kennedy's 3 1/2-yearold registered Yorkshire herd boar died as result of the July 31 poisoning. She was leasing the boar to Hail.

Mrs. Kennedy leased the hog out in Lampasas, Burnet, Mills and Williamson counties for breeding, and has lost income as a result of the killing.

"It's a terrible crime, but it's also hurt me financially," she said.

Mrs. Kennedy's daughter, who has participated in livestock shows for six years, and her son -- a fouryear showman -- were devastated when they heard the news of their boar's poisoning, she added.

"He had a name, and (my children) cried when they found out" about the killing, Mrs. Kennedy said. "Whoever did this has probably eaten a pork chop or ham. They don't appreciate what the farmer does for them."

A boar poisoned July 31 cost Hail $1,300. He also lost $1,000 -- along with potential prize money, which can top $10,000 -- on a sow that died from eating the tainted food. Several of the sows on his property had been sired by boars worth $45,000 to $50,000, Hail said.

Jake Hail, a recipient of the Lampasas County Youth Livestock Association scholarship, sells hogs statewide and had been breeding pigs to pay his way through college, his father said. The younger Hail has claimed the grand or reserve champion at the county show for the last four years, said his father.

"All my brood stock died," Mike Hail said. "We wanted to have three good brood sows. That's all we wanted."

The July 31 poisoning occurred the same day the Lampasan re- ceived a phone call from the Texas Animal Health Commission informing him a neighbor filed a complaint alleging Hail had been starving his hogs.

The pig farmer said when Rushing inspected his animals earlier in the summer, the veterinarian pronounced them of healthy weight.

"If anything, he said they had a little bit too much fat on them," said Hail.

The Lampasan monitors his pigs' diets closely, he said, weighing them daily and supplementing their regular feed with pumpkin chunks, an egg and a vitamin -- while trying to keep them away from pieces of hot dogs and other junk food he has found tossed onto his property.

"I don't run a Mickey Mouse operation out here," Hail said.

Before the poisonings, two other hogs Hail kept at his property died. Although Hail did not perform an autopsy on those animals, he believes they may have died from ingesting golf balls he discovered dumped on his land.

The Lampasan is keeping gilts in pens near his house, but he no longer turns livestock loose on the pastures where his hogs were poisoned. Hail worries some sections of his property still are contaminated by aldicarb, so he is looking for a place to move the remaining hogs.

"I'm scared to put anything on there, because I don't know how much (pesticide) there is or where it is," he said.

Information about the hog killings should be sent to P.O. Box 1207, Lampasas, TX 76550.

Those with tips on the crime also can call Nancy or Coy at (254) 722- 9310. Anyone who submits information may use a code name or pseudonym and will be paid by cashier's check.

"I'm just mad," Hail said. "I'm going to fight this."