Environmental Services
Division
Note to Editors:
This is a joint press release from the
REWARD OFFERED FOR INFORMATION ON DEAD HOGS FOUND IN
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Tom Roos, Spencer DNR Field Office at (712) 262-4177; or Ali Smith,
SAC CITY – A local pork producer helped mobilize the Sac
County Pork Producers Association and the Sac County Farm Bureau into offering a
$1,000 reward for information leading to the person responsible for dumping dead
hogs in the Raccoon River south of Haage Park.
Hog producer Pete Houska lives near the area where the
dead pigs were found and was one of the first producers to be contacted by the
Iowa DNR as they looked for the responsible person.
“It really did upset me that someone would do something
like this,” he said. “It’s uncalled for and will not be
tolerated.
“We need to be the front runners in coordinating the
efforts to find the responsible person, so we’ve offered a little incentive to
get people to talk about if they know something,” he added.
Anyone with information about the dumping should call the Sac County Sheriff’s Office at (712) 662-7127 or the Spencer DNR office at (712) 262-4177.
Scott Tapper, President of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, said that the association is appreciative of the reward being offered by the local pork producers and local Farm Bureau and compliments them on their efforts in the investigation.
The hogs were found Sunday by people canoeing the river.
When the DNR investigated on Monday and Tuesday, 31 partially decomposed
carcasses weighing 20 to 30 pounds were still in the river.
The responsible party could face criminal charges for littering or improper disposal of dead animals along with civil penalties for improper disposal of solid waste.
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