Ted Nugent: Michigan sues farmers over pigs that don’t exist

Michigan encroaches on pig farmers, Michigan rock legend Ted Nugent told the Michigan House's Weaponization of Government Subcommittee at a June 25 joint hearing.

The Department of Natural Resources claims that pig farmers breed feral pigs, which are illegal.

The department uses a faulty genetic test to determine feral pigs from nonferal pigs, according to Nugent's testimony.

Nugent told the committee that he and others have been sued over the issue.

“Well, for all of you who went to school in America, feral is an escaped domestic animal,” said Nugent. He told the legislators he is being sued for something that does not exist – that there is no such species as a Russian boar.

“A Russian boar can only be a male pig that lives in Russia – it’s not a species.”

The Motor City Madman was one of a large group of hunters and experts who testified about the department's tactics during a raucous hearing.

Dr. Barry Wehner, a veterinarian for over 30 years, said the Department of Natural Resources uses a faulty genetic test for pigs.

Wehner told the committee he called Zoetis, the animal side of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, to confirm that there is no test to distinguish a feral from a domesticated pig.

“Zoetis does not offer this type of genetic test,” said Laura Panza, manager of corporate communications and media relations at Zoetis, in response to an email from CapCon.

Michigan Capitol Confidential asked the natural resources department about the claim.

“The genetic test was not developed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources,” said Ed Golder, public information officer for the department, in an email to CapCon.

He stated that it was developed by a team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Feral Swine Genetic Archive.

“The genetic testing method has been extensively validated and peer-reviewed, and it was published in two highly regarded scientific journals,” Golder told CapCon.

Committee chair Rep. Angela Rigas, R-Alto, did not accept the explanation from the DNR.

“If this test is so widely used, why was the DNR using the ridiculously broad guidelines in the Invasive Species Order to coerce farmers into killing their pigs on the spot?” Rigas said in an email to CapCon. She said the order is being used to force the slaughter of pigs on farms that agents consider genetically feral.

Rigas wrote that the department covertly used undercover agents to assassinate some of the pigs and take the bodies with them.

The chair was referring to testimony by Cody Wehner, owner of Superior Wildlife Adventures, who said DNR agents went undercover posing as husbands looking to kill time while their wives shopped.

Wehner learned two years later who the men really were and why they covertly hunted on his property.

Rigas, as part of legislative oversight, requested that the Department of Natural Resources provide internal documentation on the testing used to determine feral from domestic pigs.

She issued a press release on June 26 calling into question the department’s request for a 150-day extension – which would push fulfilling the request to January 2026.

“If the DNR regards this test so highly, then they should be able to provide us internal documentation on it,” Rigas told CapCon.