Pig War

05/22/08

It’s me verses Them, pigs I mean. Only a few families in our village have pigs. Mine is one. These animals roam the village constantly looking for food. They are fed only enough coconut to bring them back for a meager but reliable handout. Other than that they are on their own. The damage is considerable in their search for grubs by rooting up grass and rocks, a cause of village strife. They have now discovered in my garden its remaining trash heaps, rocks, and soft cultivated earth, turning order into chaotic wallows. It is enough to make a quasi-pacifistic man want to see blood.

On silent cat’s feet I creep in the middle of the moonlit night. With pitchfork and machete in hand I stalk the gorging beasts. I want to feel the warm blood on my hands as I stick the suckers. I come to within pitchfork tossing range. A sow senses me and off she tears magically escaping through what was thought to be a pig fence. A frightened piglet wildly runs in the grass careening off a patch of corrugated metal fencing. I heave my weapon at it, missing it my only several feet. It finds another hole in the barrier fence squealing for its mother. I sit fruitlessly awaiting another intruder as mosquitoes dine on me. The others have been alerted and head back into the bushes to regroup for another night.

What may seem comical is serious business. It is against village law to let pigs roam and legal to kill any pig in your garden. Few people in the village have free roaming pigs, my host father, the village mayor, and his nearby family members being some. In fact many villagers are irate about his disregard of the law. It boils down to money and power. He has no money to feed his pigs or family; and he is the Mayor. Enter me whom he has chosen to give a garden plot. I am sure he never foresaw the consequences of his generosity as I hunt down his pigs. Unfortunately, Peace Corps Volunteers are not allowed to shoot guns.

The adage, “good fences, good neighbors make”, applies to Samoa too. Every day another piece of old rusted corrugated metal roofing is found and incorporated into the patchwork fence. Soon his pigs may be safe from my pitchfork and I can get some sleep. However I am aware that pigs are very intelligent animals and are probably plotting a counterattack. I am also slowly learning what Samoans already know. It is better to do without veggies than attempt to grow them.

An Night Intruder