A U.S. Department of Agriculture warning about diseased feral hogs quickly turned into a political free-for-all online, as users across the spectrum flooded the comments with jokes and insults.
The agency urged hunters to report sick or dead pigs to help prevent the spread of African swine fever, a virus that could devastate U.S. pork production. But the phrasing of the alert opened the door for people to weaponize the word "pigs," which...come on. Easy layup.
USDA warns about dangerous pigs
In a recent post on X, the USDA put out a call to hunters to help them locate diseased or dead pigs in the wild. Specifically, they're concerned about African swine fever (ASF), which is highly contagious and can spread to domestic hogs, killing entire herds if not contained.
Beef and chicken prices are high enough already—we don't need an interruption to pork production, too. Hunters can help.
"Seeing signs of disease during a hunting trip may be the first sighting of ASF in the United States," the USDA website reads. "Though it is not a threat to humans, if ASF were to come to our country, it would interrupt pork production and could cause severe job loss for anyone whose livelihood involves pigs."
The department warns hunters not to handle sick swine, but instead to call its hotline or use the "Squeal on Pigs" app to report them to proper authorities.
Symptoms of ASF include:
- High fever
- Diarrhea/vomiting
- Loss of appetite
- Weakness
- Red, blotchy skin or skin lesions
- Coughing
- Difficulty breathing
- Unexplained miscarriages
- Sudden death
The illness cannot be transmitted to humans, but the economic impacts could be serious if ASF spread uncontrolled in the U.S.
"Take them out of the airports first"
Of course, the word "pig" is a common euphemism in America for certain types of people. For many years, we've used it to insult those we think eat too much or are sloppy or slovenly. It may also refer to any individual or group someone despises.
Not to mention its popularity among those who dislike police.
As such, it came as no surprise when X users from across the political spectrum started commenting with jokes targeting their enemies. The left evoked the ongoing issue with ICE agents everywhere.
"ICE too or just regular cops?" asked @merckxandengels.
"Maybe take them out of the airports first," wrote @phollanov. "Lots of disease there."
"If you or someone you know loves a cop, help is on the way," said @eldermullenial.
User @neovirescent claimed they "only saw the protect our pigs logo at first because i scroll past every ad and i thought this was about the blue lives matter movement."
The right was just as quick to attack liberals, including those standing up to ICE.
"There is a whole passel of liberal swine in DC…lets start with those," joked @oldgringo48.
"They all live in MN," said @dbdeby25.
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