DOOR COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – The Valmy Thresheree has hosted a celebratory weekend for 34 years.
And the grand finale of the three-day event has always been pig wrestling.
Pig wrestling is a game where four teammates have a minute to grab a fleeing pig out of the mud and touch its belly to the top of a barrel.
Gerald Nelson, President of the Northeast Wisconsin Antique Car Association.
“It’s just fun and we have referees in there to keep the pigs nose out of the mud and they wash them down,” Nelson said, “they all get showers when they get back into the pen, they all get nice and clean again.”
However, some people want to see pig wrestling out of Door County for good and an online petition with that exact mission has over 50,000 supporters.
Sara Andrews, Executive Director at the Alliance for Animals and the Environment.
“We do think that it’s a tool that can get more people aware of what’s going on and can bolster local opposition and cause real change”
She said she has been to a pig wrestling event.
“Don’t look at the people laughing or the crowd laughing, look at the pigs and the way they’re acting, they’re struggling, they’re squealing, they’re struggling to get away.”
Nelson said the pigs are taken care of and protesters should look at events like the rodeo before they point fingers at pig wrestling.
“Our pigs here are treated better than the rodeo cattle they take them and slam them to the ground. Our pigs are treated better than that.”
The Alliance for Animals and the Environment has been able to bring an end to pig wrestling in other Wisconsin communities, and hopes to bring about a statewide ban. But for now, organizers with the Valmy Thresheree have no plans to stop.
