Officer Feared for His Life, So He Shot & Killed this Family’s Tiny Miniature Pig

By Matt Agorist on April 8, 2015

“He came out of the woods at me running at a trotting pace and I felt threatened so I shot and killed him….I was following orders”

Ely Township, MI — In one of the most cowardly moves by law enforcement that we’ve ever witnessed, a Michigan DNR officer shot and killed a family’s miniature pig Thursday after he “felt threatened.”

Two years ago, Tony Gervasi and Brandy Savelle decided to get another pet. They adopted a miniature pig named Caeser, and he’s been a part of their family every since.

“He just instantly became one of us, cuddled, slept in our bed. Just like another dog,” said Gervasi.

Caeser was mostly an indoor pet, but recently they’ve been letting him explore their 28-acre property. Last week, after Caeser went out on one of his exploration trips, he never returned.

“When I followed the prints and saw where it was it was like a puddle of blood. At first I didn’t believe it because it was a weird color, it was kind of pinkish purple so I stuck my finger in it and looked, and I just knew,” said Savelle.

They found a puddle of blood and drag marks, but no Caeser.

The next morning a DNR officer knocked at their door and their worst fears were realized.

“When he first told me that he was the one responsible, that was the first thing, like oh did you run him, did you hit him because that’s what it looked like, that’s what we thought and that’s what I was prepared for. He said no and I instantly knew, I said, you shot my pig and he said yes I did,” said Savelle.

But the officer did not accidentally run him over. He shot and killed this tiny animal because he “felt threatened.”

“Actually, I am responsible for the missing pig…” the officer reportedly said. “He came out of the woods at me running at a trotting pace and I felt threatened so I shot and killed him”.

The family then said that the officer began to change his story.

“The only thing that he said was that he was following orders; those are the instructions to shoot pigs. When I asked him how he could shoot something so small he said that there is such a problem with wild pigs in our area so he was just doing his job. If Caesar did in fact go up to him it’s because he associates humans with food. Just picturing Caesar seeing this guy and thinking ‘oh a new person. I’m on my way home but you might have food so I’m just going to…’ and him just walking up and him getting a bullet instead makes me very upset,” said Savelle.

If the officer was telling the truth after he changed his story, and he shot this pig as he was instructed to do, why did he come to the family’s home to tell them he shot their pet?

The family has setup a GoFundMe page and a Facebook support page in order to raise awareness and have officers properly trained.

To show the ridiculousness of the DNR officer’s claim that he was doing his duty and shooting feral pigs, we pulled a photo from their website to show what they refer to as a “feral pig.”

“Feral Pig” Michigan DNR

Here is what the DNR officer thought was a feral pig.

Family Pet “Caeser” Image Facebook