Is the Way These People Are 'Hunting' Feral Hogs in This Video Inhumane?

Killing wild or so-called "feral" pigs, which have spread across the U.S. causing some environmental and safety concerns, is nothing new, but blowing them up takes it to the next level.

A video posted onto YouTube earlier this month titled "Tannerite Hog Explosion" graphically shows the "efficient means of exterminating feral hogs," as the description put it.

Tannerite is a brand name target that explodes with "water vapor and a thunderous boom" when hit with a rifle.

But not everyone agrees with using such a method to kill the animals. The outdoors website Wide Open Spaces wrote that it would "never advocate blowing things up like this, or wasting meat like this," but it did acknowledge that the use of Tannerite makes "for a heck of a video."

Image source: YouTube

Some on a recent Reddit thread also took a similar stance as Wide Open Spaces.

"Shooting them is effective and respectful. I'm from where hogs are taking over as well and it is more humane than blasting them into the air with explosives," the Redditor going by the username ViewFromTheTop wrote.

Watch the footage (Note: graphic images and strong language):

Though some might label the video as a fake, the blogger from My Name is Fox Trot details three things that he thinks confirm its validity:

1. The video quality is good and it is just a little bit too long.  There is a whole lot of dead air (pardon the pun) at the beginning. If I were going to fake a vid like this I'd make sure it was short and get right to the explosion.  Also, if I were looking to fake something like this I would film it on a low res cell phone held by someone withy shaky hands.  Oh yea, and it would be vertical, because that's how fake videos do it.

2. Those pigs that went flying sure looked real.  They have that "rag doll" style aerial effects that I think would be difficult and/or not worth the effort to reproduce digitally.

3. The giggle, you can't fake the tannerite giggle.  Something happens to men of all ages when the experience a giant explosion like that; they always giggle like little kids.  Watch any other tannerite video on the interwebs and you'll see the same thing.  That part is simply too hard to fake.

Let us know what you think about using this method to kill hogs by taking our poll:

(H/T: The Loudout Room)