By Jane Williams contributing writer for GFN

HOGS MASSACRED IN VIRGINIA was written for November, 2006, publication in the “American Family Voice”, P.O. Box 127, Russellville, Arkansas 72811, Phone: (479) 880-2026, Email: , americanfamilyvoice@yahoo.com Subscription rate is $25 for 12 issues

Gladstone, Virginia: At 5:00 AM on September 12, 2006, Cindi and Danny Henshaw were awakened by their local Virginia game warden, who arrested Danny on an apparently trumped up Class 2 Misdemeanor charge and took him from his Willis River Hunting preserve for supposedly, “operating a mammalian hunting enclosure without a permit.” As soon as Danny was out of the way, 9 SUVs and pickups, 4 wheelers, and numerous heavily armed agents entered the Henshaw property with a Quarantine Order and began shooting Henshaw’s hogs and sheep with 12 gauge shotguns. Some 270 shell casings were also found. Individuals participating in the attack were Virginia game wardens, USDA employees, and Virginia Department of Agriculture employees.

At the Henshaw’s farm, the Virginia State Veterinarian appeared to be in charge. Some of the invaders wore jeans and sweat shirts with USDA lettering. Others wore white clothing that appeared to be hazardous materials suits. These were probably Virginia Department of Agriculture employees. They sure weren’t hunters, since they mostly used shotguns to kill the livestock and could not hit the scurrying young pigs. Danny was released from custody in 2 hours and allowed to return to the farm where he and Cindi were controlled around the clock by armed guards from September 12th through September 22nd. Cindi’s name did not appear on any of the documents, yet she was held at gun point for 10 days. Their home was not searched and none of their fire arms or archery equipment was seized.

Eugene Davis had a hog breeding farm and a hog hunting reserve near Farmville, Virginia. Both of his farms came under attack at the same time the Henshaw farm was attacked. A command center had been set up to coordinate the raids. Danny could hear their commands being given out over the radio as he was being transported to the courthouse. The raid orders were given just after it was radioed in that Danny was off of his property.

On September 22nd, the attackers withdrew after killing Henshaw’s sheep and at least 79 hogs. To trick them into the open, animals were starved and then baited with corn, but the raiders still could not kill all of the hogs. On September 26th, the Henshaws still knew little about why their hunting operation was attacked. About all they knew was that an agent supposedly reported that he had hunted at their reserve in May and, according to the agent, the hog that he shot had probably been infected with pseudorabies. The agent returned on September 9th and killed another hog that supposedly tested positive for pseudorabies.

The Henshaws were not provided with any test reports—only statements. [It is doubtful that blood from a hog shot at the hunting reserve would have been viable for testing because of the time lapse from the death of the animal and the testing of the blood unless proper refrigeration techniques were used.] Danny and Cindi were held under armed guard around the clock and not allowed to move around to see what was taking place or to film the events.

Attachments to the Quarantine Order stated that Henshaws would be charged for the costs of the depopulation, including man hours, and the incineration of their animals. The hogs that were shot were apparently not tested on the farm, but their carcasses were loaded on trailers and hauled away for incineration as blood poured through the slats as the trailers rolled down the road. On September 27th, the Henshaws were informed that blood from 15 of the slaughtered hogs had tested positive for pseudo rabies. [Two veterinarians have stated that improperly collected and improperly refrigerated blood will produce false positive pseudorabies results.]

The Henshaws were prevented by armed guards from entering what the agents called, “the compound,” where most of the animals were being slaughtered. Two 5 ½ year old pet hogs that as babies had been bottle fed in the Henshaw home from the time the pigs were 3 days old were housed on property with a separate deed from the hunting preserve. They were shot in their pen and their bleeding carcasses were dragged across the driveway where they had once followed the Henshaws around like pet dogs.

Danny had worked as an undercover narcotics agent and a swat team member. He said that this attack goes well beyond his experience as a law officer. Willis River Hunting, located near Gladstone, Virginia, offered guided hunting trips for Russian boar, trophy rams, and sheep. No adult animals remain at Willis River Hunting. The massacre destroyed the Henshaw’s primary business. They offer turkey hunts in Virginia and Kansas and deer hunts in Virginia and Kansas. Danny has even taken some rather famous Governor Clinton security guards turkey hunting and participated in making hunting films in Oklahoma.

Sue Karber traveled to the Henshaw farm from her farm in Oklahoma to verify the details that this article has provided. On September 27th, she reported that the farm had been trashed by the “law enforcers”. They left human fecal matter near the home, toilet paper on the ground, trash from snacks and meals everywhere, severely damaged the roads, and left shell casings scattered about. Even after hard rains and the passage of time, she said that blood and its smell were everywhere.

Copies of documents pertaining to the Henshaw attack were provided to Karber by the Michael J. Brickhill Law Corporation, that is representing Henshaw. Karber placed these documents on the floor of her car with other paraphernalia on top of them. When she unlocked the car to get them, after a brief sleep in a motel that was located about three hours away from the Henshaw farm, she discovered that the documents regarding the Henshaw raid were gone. Other documents were still there as were items of value such as a DVD player, many DVDs, and other things of value. Only the Henshaw documents were missing. Fortunately she had faxed these documents to many people before they were stolen. AFV has copies of the stolen documents.

USDA QUOTES ON PSEUDORABIES

“Pseudorabies is a viral disease most prevalent in swine, often causing newborn piglets to die. Older pigs can survive infection, becoming carriers of the pseudorabies virus for life. Other animals infected from swine die from pseudorabies, which is also known as Aujeszky's disease and "mad itch." Infected cattle and sheep can first show signs of pseudorabies by scratching and biting themselves. In dogs and cats, pseudorabies can cause sudden death. The virus does not cause illness in humans.” “Pseudorabies is a disease of swine that can also affect cattle, horses, dogs, cats, sheep, and goats. The disease is caused by pseudorabies virus (PRV), an extremely contagious herpes virus that causes reproductive problems, including abortion, stillbirths, and even occasional death losses in breeding and finishing hogs.” “ The virus has never been shown to be contagious to humans, not even to people working on farms with many PRV-infected animals.” “PRV is primarily spread through direct animal-to-animal (or nose-to-nose) contact between an infected and shedding pig and a noninfected pig. If present on inanimate objects, such as boots, clothing, feed, trucks, and equipment, the virus can also spread from herd to herd and farm to farm.”

“Pseudorabies can be prevented primarily through good, tight biosecurity, a sound vaccination program, and thorough, meticulous management with disease control and prevention in mind.” “PRV is known to have existed in the United States for at least 150 years.” “USDA established a voluntary eradication program for pseudorabies in the United States in 1989. The program is cooperative in nature and involves Federal, State, and industry participation. USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) coordinates the national pseudorabies eradication program, State governments promulgate and enforce the intrastate regulations, and producers contribute by having their herds tested and instituting control and eradication measures.

DEPOPULATION

Depopulation is slaughtering all animals supposedly affected with the disease or who are susceptible to the disease (any disease), in this case pseudorabies. All hogs are susceptible to pseudorabies. The armed agents were not able to kill all of the young pigs. Young pigs affected with pseudorabies would have been extremely easy to kill, since they are weak and usually dying. Henshaw’s pigs ran too fast for the attackers to be able to shoot all of them. Henshaws reported that their hogs were robust and healthy. Their sows had not had conception problems, still births, or miscarriages. Young pigs had not been sick or dying. Karber confirmed that the remaining pigs appeared healthy and strong.

Pseudorabies testing regulations in Arkansas require testing every 6 months of 25 animals, or testing all animals on farms with smaller populations. Larger hog operations need test only 27 if holding 100-200 head, 28 if holding 201-999 head, or 29 if holding 1000 or more head to be certified a pseudorabies free herd. Once again the small producer faces an economic disadvantage because of this costly testing requirement. Virginia regulations are similar to Arkansas regulations. This writer has not found any sale barn owner who has ever known of a pseudorabies positive test in Arkansas. Hogs can not be sold legally in Arkansas without blood being drawn by a technician or veterinarian unless the hog farm has been certified pseudorabies free.

This testing requirement has caused most sale barns to no longer sell hogs because of the costs and difficulty having a veterinarian on site to draw blood. It has also caused most back yard hog producers to cease raising hogs because of the expense and difficulty involved in meeting the testing requirements. Complete swine regulations can be found at www.arlpc.org under regulations. In 1987, when the Upjohn Company developed Tolvid pseudorabies vaccine was approved, the Upjohn Company stated that 8% of the US hog population was affected by the virus. In 2006, the National Pork Producers Council announced that the United States was free of pseudorabies.

In the United States today, any animal owner might experience the same depopulation tactics that the Henshaws just experienced. Regulations vary from state to state. Animal owners might be paid a portion of what the killed animals were worth. In most states, no warrant is required to enter the farm and tests are not required to confirm a disease. The Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission regulations lay out specific guidelines for quarantine and depopulation that all animal owners should study.

The Arkansas Animal Producer’s Association is proposing legislation to be considered by the 2007 General Assembly that would prevent a reinactment of the Virginia massacre in this state.

Please remember to visit GFN's 'quick links'. We are pleased to help support the "Granny Warriors". They are taking action that only Grannys can do. We hope the Members of GFN will show them the same support our staff does.

This site does not advocate or endorse any activities that are in violation of Federal, State, or Local laws.

In compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, GFN is distributed free, without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner. FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.