Wednesday 3 October 2012

A morbid death story

Death is a certain eventuality... but there are things called 'good' deaths where the recently departed passes on with his family around or perhaps peacefully in sleep.

Then there are 'bad' deaths such as in accidents, conflict, and animal attacks, to name just three. Naturally most people would like to die a 'good' death, but it must be said that those who deliberately live on the edge have the cards stacked against them.

While not necessarily a morbid person – I would rate my morbid curiosity as less than or equal to (certainly never more than) a normal psychologically balanced person's – I noted news of 'bad' deaths time and again; sadly 'good' deaths rarely make it into the papers or the online public domain.


While living in South Africa, I came across news of deaths or news of near deaths in shark attacks, pit bull attacks, rhino attacks, lion or cheetah attacks, attacks by crazed bull elephants, hippopotamus and crocodiles. Basically news of deaths because someone was caught at the wrong place at the wrong time.

I have read about fatalities through industrial and civil accidents, deaths in shootings, death in beatings, death for profit, even death for political expediency. I have read countless novels where people face or cheat death in the hands of sinister, faceless organisations, hired mercenaries, government spies, and what not.

Of the many possible ways to die I can't imagine (or rather don't want to imagine) having to debate my mortality against a wild animal – no matter the size. Two words describe the source of my primal fear - “wild” and “animal.” I'd rather not be associated with any thing remotely affiliated to those two words.

Imagine my chagrin when I read that a 70-year old Oregon farmer was eaten by his hogs! This horror took place when the aforementioned farmer went to feed his hogs and didn't come back for several hours. He was discovered, or more appropriately his dentures were discovered, in the hog pen when a family member went out to investigate.

According to the report “further investigation of the enclosure revealed that the hogs, which each weighed about 700 pounds, had nearly completely eaten the farmer, although some body parts were strewn about the enclosure.”

It is speculated that either the aged farmer had a cardiac episode and fell into the pen or was in the pen and was knocked down by one of the hogs during the feeding and the frenzied animals just ate at him.

Surprisingly, the report stated, that at least one of the hogs had turned aggressive against the farmer a few days earlier. Personally had it been me that aggressive hog (or hogs) would have been a sausage within hours any sign of aggressive behaviour – and I don't even eat pork, but would have made an exception in such a case to remind the f@**ers whose the boss.

[And don't any animal rights or vegetarian activists put up any hate comments because of that last sentiment. A man is dead, and he had a 'bad' death. Furthermore the guilty hog would not have been eaten alive by any rabid mates of mine but put to death as humanely as possible. Personally I think now that the hogs have passed that point now and should be just brutally culled, burnt and buried to bring some peace to the family.]

No one deserves to die in the manner that this poor Oregon farmer went to the great beyond. May his soul find the peace that evaded him in the last frantic minutes of his life. One can only pray in consolation that his end was quick.

Moreover may the good lord watch over us and save us from such grim fates. Amen.


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