The Sabinal Lions Club of Sabinal, Texas is scheduled to host the 31st Annual Wild Hog Festival & Craft Fair on March 25th and March 26th, 2023 at the Sabinal City Park (about an hour from San Antonio).

At this event they have what's called the Wild Hog Catching Contest. For this two-day contest:

• teams of two (children and adults) willfully enter a small arena and a feral pig (who was previously trapped) is forced into the arena
• the team tries to get the quickest time possible by capturing the pig by any means and doing whatever they want to them to get them into the burlap feed sack
• once the pig is in the sack, they run with the bag, dragging it across the ground to a finish line (sometimes they run with the bag above the ground and then they roughly throw the bag onto the ground after crossing the finish line)
• teams have 3 minutes to catch a pig
  participants can go numerous times
• pigs are reused throughout the course of the two-day event
  the teams with the best rankings all go again at the end of the event and all of the winners are awarded with belt buckles
  pigs are tackled, jumped on, and slammed to the ground
• pigs are picked up in all kinds of extremely rough, painful, and dangerous ways such as by one or two ears, by one or two legs, and by their skin
• pigs commonly get injured and bloodied

The pigs make it very clear they want no part in this by resisting going into the arena and by continually trying to escape once they are inside. Through a mixture of trying repeatedly to jump over the fence and crashing into the metal, getting dragged on the ground, and getting otherwise roughed up by the participants many of the pigs develop open wounds and bloody mouths and faces. As the event goes on the burlap feed sack accumulates more and more blood stains. The terrified pigs in the pens have to hear the constant screaming of the pigs being tortured in the arena.

This is completely cruel and abusive towards the pigs and this is atrocious behavior to role model to children. Kids should be taught to be kind towards animals, not to brutalize them for fun and entertainment.

Please also sign the In Defense of Animal petition asking for the cancellation of all 3 hog bagging events in Texas (Bandera Ham Rodeo, Frio River Fest Wild Hog Sacking, and the Wild Hog Festival)