[Prepared Sept. 27th for publication in the
November 2006 “American Family Voice”]
HOGS MASSACRED IN VIRGINIA
WHO’S ANIMALS ARE NEXT
By Jane Williams
Gladstone, Virginia:
At 5:00 AM on September
12, 2006, Cindi and Danny Henshaw were awakened by their local Virginia
game warden, who arrested Danny on an apparently trumped up Class 2 Misdemeanor
charge and took him from his Willis River Hunting preserve for supposedly,
“operating a mammalian hunting enclosure without a permit.” As soon as Danny
was out of the way, 9 SUV’s and pickups, 4 wheelers, and numerous heavily armed
agents entered the Henshaw property with a Quarantine Order and began shooting
Henshaw’s hogs and sheep with 12 gauge shotguns. Some 270 shell casings were
also found. Individuals participating in the attack were Virginia
game wardens, USDA employees, and Virginia Department of Agriculture employees.
At the Henshaw’s farm, the Virginia State Veterinarian appeared to be in
charge. Some of the invaders wore jeans and sweat shirts with USDA lettering.
Others wore white clothing that appeared to be hazardous materials suits. These
were probably Virginia Department of Agriculture employees. They sure weren’t
hunters, since they mostly used shotguns to kill the livestock and could not
hit the scurrying young pigs. Danny was released from custody in 2 hours and
allowed to return to the farm where he and Cindi were controlled around the
clock by armed guards from September 12th through September 22nd.
A command center had been set up and another raid was being
conducted near Farmville in Cumberland County, Virginia,
at the same time [details not available on Sept. 27th]. On September
22nd, the attackers withdrew after killing Henshaw’s sheep and at
least 79 hogs. Animals were starved to
trick them into the open as they searched for food.
On September 26th, the Henshaws still knew little
about why their hunting operation was attacked. About all they knew was that an
agent supposedly reported that he had hunted at their reserve in May and,
according to the agent, the hog that he shot had probably been infected with
pseudorabies. The agent returned on September 9th and killed another
hog that supposedly tested positive for pseudorabies. The Henshaws were not
provided with any test reports. [It is doubtful that blood from a hog shot at
the hunting reserve would have been viable for testing because of the time
lapse from the death of the animal and the testing of the blood unless proper
refrigeration techniques were used.] Danny and Cindi were held under armed
guard around the clock and not allowed to move around to see what was taking
place.
Attachments to the Quarantine Order stated that Henshaws
would be charged for the costs of the massacre, including man hours, and the
incineration of their animals. The hogs that were shot were apparently not
tested, but their carcasses were loaded on trailers and hauled away for
incineration as blood poured through the slats as the trailers rolled down the
road. [On September 27th, the Henshaws were informed that blood from
15 of the slaughtered hogs had tested positive for pseudo rabies. Information
about testing will be posted at a later date.] The Henshaws were prevented by armed guards
from entering what the agents called, “the compound,” where the animals were being
slaughtered. Two 5 ˝ year old pet hogs that as babies had been bottle fed in
their home from the time the pigs were 3 days old were housed on property with
a separate deed from the hunting preserve.
They were shot in their pen and their bleeding carcasses were dragged
across the driveway where they had once followed the Henshaws around like pet
dogs.
On September 22nd, the agents departed because
they decided that they could not kill all of the hogs. Danny agreed to feed the
hogs corn until they were de-stressed and then kill the remaining hogs. He
would have agreed to anything to get the gun slingers
off of his property. He was order not to do anything with the pigs other than
feed them. That included treating wounded pigs and drawing blood for testing.. The Quarantine Order stated that the herd must be
eradicated within 15 days to prevent the State of Virginia
from loosing its “pseudorabies free status”.
Arkansas
regulations allow 180 days for sell out for slaughter before an order of
mandatory destruction is issued. Pseudorabies infected hogs are safe for human
consumption. The Henshaws should have been allowed to sell their hogs for
slaughter, if pseudorabies had been detected, but they were not allowed to
test, confirm the presence of pseudorabies, or sell their hogs. They were only
allowed to listen to the gunshots and hear the screaming, wounded, dying hogs.
Danny Henshaw is a nationally known archer (consistently
ranking in the top 10 in the US),
a highly respected hunter, a well known hunting film maker, and sought after
hunting guide. He and Cindi had operated their hunting preserve for 16 years,
and it had been grand-fathered in by the Commonwealth’s Attorney to grant it
“status” as new Virginia
regulations were enacted. Danny had worked as an undercover narcotics agent and
said that this attack goes well beyond his experience as a law officer. Willis
River Hunting, located near Gladstone, Virginia,
offered guided hunting trips for Russian boar, trophy rams, and sheep. No adult
animals remain at Willis River Hunting. The massacre destroyed the Henshaw’s
primary business. They offer turkey hunts in Virginia
and Kansas and deer hunts in Virginia
and Kansas. Danny has even taken
some rather famous Governor Clinton security guards turkey hunting and
participated in making hunting films in Oklahoma.
USDA QUOTES ON PSEUDORABIES
“Pseudorabies is a viral disease most prevalent in swine,
often causing newborn piglets to die. Older pigs can survive infection,
becoming carriers of the pseudorabies virus for life. Other animals infected from swine die from
pseudorabies, which is also known as Aujeszky's disease and "mad
itch." Infected cattle and sheep
can first show signs of pseudorabies by scratching and biting themselves. In dogs and cats, pseudorabies can cause
sudden death. The virus does not cause
illness in humans.” “Pseudorabies is a disease of swine that can also affect
cattle, horses, dogs, cats, sheep, and goats. The disease is caused by
pseudorabies virus (PRV), an extremely contagious herpes virus that causes
reproductive problems, including abortion, stillbirths, and even occasional
death losses in breeding and finishing hogs.” “ The
virus has never been shown to be contagious to humans, not even to people
working on farms with many PRV-infected animals.” “PRV is primarily spread
through direct animal-to-animal (or nose-to-nose) contact between an infected
and shedding pig and a noninfected pig. If present on inanimate objects, such
as boots, clothing, feed, trucks, and equipment, the virus can also spread from
herd to herd and farm to farm.”
“Pseudorabies can be prevented primarily through good, tight
biosecurity, a sound vaccination program, and thorough, meticulous management
with disease control and prevention in mind.” “PRV is known to have existed in
the United States
for at least 150 years.” “USDA established a voluntary eradication program for
pseudorabies in the United States
in 1989. The program is cooperative in nature and involves Federal, State, and
industry participation. USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS) coordinates the national pseudorabies eradication program, State
governments promulgate and enforce the intrastate regulations, and producers
contribute by having their herds tested and instituting control and eradication
measures. The program's primary activities include surveillance, herd
monitoring, and herd cleanup.” “Currently, all 50 States are considered free of
PRV in commercial production swine herds, those herds which have adequate
measures in place to prevent contact and potential infection from feral and
transitional production swine, known potential carriers of the PRV virus.” “No
commercial production herds have been found to be infected with PRV since early
2003. Sporadic infections have been found in transitional production herds,
those swine which are captured feral swine, or have the potential to come in
contact with feral swine. Any infected transitional herds have been promptly
depopulated when found, and intense epidemiological
investigations have been conducted to ascertain that no viral spread to
commercial production swine has occurred.”
DEPOPULATION
Depopulation is slaughtering all animals supposedly affected
with the disease or who are susceptible to the disease (any disease), in this
case pseudorabies. All hogs are susceptible to pseudorabies. The armed agents
were not able to kill all of the young pigs. Young pigs affected with
pseudorabies would have been extremely easy to kill since they are weak and
usually dying. Henshaws pigs ran too fast for the attackers to be able to shoot
all of them. Henshaws reported that their hogs were robust and healthy. Their
sows had not had conception problems, still births, or miscarriages. Young pigs
had not been sick or dying.
Pseudorabies testing regulations in Arkansas
require testing of 25 animals, or testing all animals on farms with smaller
populations every 6 months. Larger hog operations need test only 27 if holding
100-200 head, 28 if holding 201-999 head, or 29 if holding 1000 or more head to
be certified a pseudorabies free herd. Once again the small producer faces an
economic disadvantage because of this costly testing requirement. This writer
has not found any sale barn owner who has ever known of a pseudorabies positive
test in Arkansas. Hogs can not be sold legally in Arkansas without blood being
drawn by a technician or veterinarian unless the hog farm has been certified
pseudorabies free. This testing requirement has caused most sale barns to no
longer sell hogs because of the costs and difficulty having a veterinarian on
site to draw blood. It has also caused most back yard hog producers to cease
raising hogs because of the expense and difficulty involved in meeting the
testing requirements. Complete swine regulations can be found at www.arlpc.org under regulations. In 1987, when
the Upjohn Company developed Tolvid pseudorabies vaccine was approved, the
Upjohn Company stated that 8% of the US hog population was affected by the
virus. In 2006, the National Pork Producers Council announced that the United
States was free of pseudorabies.
In the United States today, any animal owner might
experience the same depopulation tactics that the Henshaws just experienced.
Regulations vary from state to state. Animal owners might be paid a portion of
what the killed animals were worth. In most states, no warrant is required to
enter the farm and tests are not required to confirm a disease. The Arkansas
Livestock and Poultry Commission regulations lay out specific guidelines for
quarantine and depopulation that all animal owners should study. The Arkansas
Animal Producer’s Association is proposing legislation to be considered by the
2007 General Assembly that would prevent a reinactment of the Virginia massacre
in this state.