OKEECHOBEE COUNTY, Fla. — Feral hogs were found mutilated near a community in Okeechobee County.
"I didn't see it until I pulled up. I wanted to clear my mind that there wasn't anything here," Michelle Rivera said.
WATCH: Michelle Rivera tells WPTV something has to be done about the mutilated feral hogs
Rivera was driving home from town when she spotted something. A feral hog lying motionless on the banks of a canal.
"I looked on the opposite end of the bank and could clearly see down where it was, that it was still breathing, moving and alive but not able to be mobile," she said.
Rivera said in the past few days someone has been dismembering and leaving hogs at both entrances of her small subdivision. She said two were left alive, one missing its legs and the other with its throat slit.
She said neighbors began posting on a local message board about the feral hog sightings.
"There were some concerns that other things had been seen of a similar nature," she said.
WPTV reached out to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who are investigating.
They sent a statement saying:
On April 15, FWC officers were notified of several incidents involving the killing of feral hogs in Okeechobee County. Residents reported several sightings of injured feral hogs carelessly discarded near their community in the area of SW 85th Street.
FWC said although feral hogs are allowed to be removed from private property with landowner permission, they are also protected by anti-cruelty law.
Rivera said something has to be done.
"Whatever its unfortunate demise was, it's still suffering, it's still alive and you feel compelled to assist in some way to alleviate it of its suffering," she said.
