NEWS
BlueMountainEagle.com
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
A7
No criminal case in killing of local pet pig
By Phil Wright
EO Media Group
Janet McKague expected the law
to crack down on the hunter who
killed Porky, her pet pot-bellied pig.
Instead, the Umatilla County District
Attorney’s Office dismissed the case.
“This is just eating me up because
I can’t get it out of my mind,” McK-
ague said. “I don’t say this is justice
at all. He should have got charged
with something.”
That hunter, Greg Osburn of Bor-
ing, said he did nothing wrong.
“There was no criminal charge. I
killed a wild pig,” he said. “It’s 100
percent legal in this state.”
Oregon considers swine feral if
they meet certain conditions: They
must be free roaming animals of
the genus Sus; no one responsible
for pigs has notified others within a
5-mile radius of their escape within
five days; the pigs do not appear
tame or domesticated; and the pigs
do not meet the criteria for escaped
swine.
Osburn said the black pig he shot
with his bow-and-arrow on Aug. 31
looked like a wild boar and was on
private land where he had permission
Contributed photo/Janet McKague
This undated photo shows Porky
the pot-bellied pig in his enclosure
outside of Pilot Rock.
to hunt outside Pilot Rock. He has
been hunting in the Eastern Oregon
region for years, he said, and this was
the first time he spotted a pig at-large,
so he shot it.
The Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife pegs the state’s feral
swine population at 2,000 to 5,000.
The animals live in two areas, accord-
ing to the agency: the southwestern
portion of the state along the Califor-
nia border, and through central and
north central Oregon, including Gil-
liam and Wheeler counties. That’s
as close as they are to the Pilot Rock
area.
Feral pigs on public land are “non-
game and nonprotected,” according to
ODFW, and you can kill them if you
have a valid hunting license. But most
observations of feral pigs occur on
private land. Hunters with permission
to take other game on private land can
kill feral pigs. Doing so, according to
ODFW, “will be doing wildlife and
habitat a favor.”
Osburn said that’s just what he did.
Oregon State Police out of Pend-
leton investigated and did not cite
Osburn. State police Sgt. Tim Brown
said while the shooting was on pri-
vate property, the landlord was
absent. He also said neighbors know
each others’ pets. The best move was
giving the police report to the dis-
trict attorney’s office for the consid-
eration of charges.
“We really weren’t sure how to
proceed on this,” Brown said.
McKague said the game trooper
that investigated asked her if this
might be an animal abuse case. She
said all she knew was someone shot
and killed her pig and she has yet to
see any police report.
The next she heard came Jan. 14,
she said, when the victim’s advo-
cate in the district attorney’s office
told her the case had a court proceed-
ing the next morning at the county
courthouse in Pendleton. McKague
and several family members came to
court. She said she expected a trial or
at least to have the opportunity to tell
the judge her point of view.
Instead, she said, they watched
in silence as deputy district attorney
Cody Hack asked Circuit Judge Jon
Lieuallen to dismiss the case. Court
records show the district attorney’s
office filed paperwork to charge
Osburn with a single count of sec-
ond-degree animal abuse, but Hack
subsequently asked the court to dis-
miss the case in the best interest of
justice.
Lieuallen granted the request.
McKague said she and her fam-
ily could not believe what happened
and they stuck around the courthouse
waiting for an explanation. Her
daughter, Kim McKague, said she
finally got Hack to talk to them more
than an hour later. Kim McKague
said the deputy prosecutor told them
he had no case, in spite of Osburn’s
admission he shot Porky and the
photos he took of their dead pet.
District Attorney Dan Primus
said this was a unique case, and for
his office to prosecute, there must be
a crime. Primus also said he felt for
the McKagues. His family has pets,
he said, and he would not want any-
one to harm them. He said this was a
sad set of circumstances.
“We’re extremely sensitive to the
family’s situation, and we wish there
was more we could do,” Primus said.
“But in this situation this is all we
can do.”
Osburn said he wrote Janet McK-
ague a letter of apology. He called
killing Porky an unfortunate situa-
tion. He said it was ridiculous this
got to the district attorney’s office.
He claimed he spent at least $1,000
defending himself when he did noth-
ing wrong.
Kim McKague said her fam-
ily is considering civil action. Janet
McKague said their miniature pony,
which shared barn space with Porky,
died last month.
“I think she done plumb died of a
broken heart,” she said.
Osburn said he wants this to be
the end of the mess, but if they sue
him, he will sign citations against
Janet McKague for not keeping
Porky on her property.
He also said he killed prize elk
year after year in the region and con-
tributes to the local economy. Come
elk season, he said, he will return.
Pictures
help capture
memories
of outdoor
adventures.
Contributed
photo
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
Take a picture
By Rod Carpenter
For the Blue Mountain Eagle
I
’m sorry to say it, but
sadly it’s true, as you get
older, your memory plays
tricks on you.
Or, if you’re like me, it has
been playing tricks on you for
years now. That is why you
need to be taking pictures of
all your adventures.
Sure, we all try to get
some good photos of an espe-
cially big fish or animal we
harvest, but we need to be
taking pictures of the rest of
our lives as well.
Just the other day, I was
looking through some old
photo albums and saw pic-
tures of outdoor adventures I
had almost forgotten about,
like the spring bear hunt
where we didn’t see a single
animal but there were at least
20 abandoned snowmobiles
along the roads. I guess they
were waiting for the snow
to melt to get them. Pictures
help capture those memories.
I have some blurry pic-
tures of a tent that collapsed
on us at 3 a.m. from the
weight of the snow. At the
time, it wasn’t very funny.
OK, it still isn’t all that
funny.
Another shows the side
of my pickup kissing the
tree we slid into. We had to
use a handsaw to cut the tree
down, but the truck wasn’t
even marked. A single pic-
ture like that can bring back
memories of the whole
trip. That’s why I encour-
age you to document your
experiences.
No, they aren’t going to
be Outdoor Life quality. In
fact, most will be pretty bad
by professional standards,
but who cares. They are to
preserve your memories so
that when the hills get too
steep to climb or the river is
too far away, you can look
back and remember.
We all carry cameras with
us every day in our phones.
Take a quick pic of every-
body eating dinner on the
tailgate so you can remem-
ber who was there that day.
When you stick your truck
up to the axles in the mud,
take a selfie with it before
you start digging, and maybe
after too, so you can show
your grandkids how to play
in the mud.
At the end of every year,
I go down to Len’s Drug and
print off that year’s pictures
and put them in an album.
Some folks like to save them
other ways. Just remember
that computers crash, cell-
phones react poorly to water
and CDs warp with time.If
you want to save your pic-
tures electronically, an exter-
nal hard drive is the best way
to go.
Just an FYI, no mat-
ter how good Apple says the
camera is in your phone, if
you ever do want to submit
some pictures to a magazine,
cellphone pictures will not cut
it. All the publications that I
am aware of will not accept
cellphone pictures, only those
taken with an actual camera.
However you do it, take
the time to record your adven-
tures so that when it’s too
cold, too hot or you’re just
too old to be out there, you
can sit back in your easy chair
and relive a memory or two.
P.S. Ten extra points if
you caught the Dr. Seuss
reference.
We enjoy your comments
and suggestions at shootingth-
ebreezebme@gmail.com.
Rod Carpenter is a hus-
band, father and hunting fool.
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