Stories: Pig People

"No man should be allowed to be president who does not understand hogs."

- President Harry S. Truman

As Missouri’s native son so wisely implied, man’s relationship with the pig is a complex one. Maligned for filthiness and gluttony, pigs are actually highly intelligent, emotionally sophisticated animals whose physiology is remarkably similar to our own.

Whether we raise them as livestock, keep them as pets, hunt them for sport or eat them for lunch, pigs have a unique place in American culture.

Hannah Kelly, a junior at Collinsville High School, buries her head in her hands before attempting to dissect a fetal pig in biology class. Kelly eventually opted out of the assignment and was given a written assignment in lieu of the cutting.
  
Marc Moon, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, prepares a pig heart valve to replace a faulty valve on a human patient. The American Heart Association estimates nearly 80,000 Americans have a porcine heart valve.
   
Josh Galliano, head chef at An American Place in St. Louis, removes the tail from a pig before de-boning and roasting it for the restaurant's special of the night. "I prefer to work with the whole hog when I can," he said. "Nothing goes to waste."
     
  
Chuck Hiatt gives a kiss to his pet Vietnamese Pot Bellied Pig “Bingley” as the two play outside in the pig's personal swimming pool in the backyard of Hiatt's home in St. Clair, Mo. "He's probably going to outlive me," he said. "Guess that means he's going in my will."
   
Brian Shelton, a resource technician with the Missouri Department of Conservation, cuts a wire snare from the midsection of a feral pig as he and other members of Missouri Department of Conservation work to eliminate the human-introduced pigs from the area.
   
Emily Weinberg, 16, of Trenton, Ill. guides her Yorkshire hog around the show ring at the Madison County Fair in Highland, Ill. Weinberg has been showing hogs since 2006 at the fair.
     
  
Karlios Hinkebein looks over his mixture of Tamworth, Chester White, Yorkshire and Hampshire pigs at his farm in Cape Girardeau. Hinkebein supplies many of the high end restaurants in St. Louis with his hormone and antibiotic free pork.