THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 29, 1996 TAG: 9609290050
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SOUTH MILLS LENGTH: 107 lines
THE OPPONENTS: A homeowners' coalition in South Mills has an ally in its fight against a planned hog farm - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is concerned about harm to the nearby Dismal Swamp Canal.
THE DEVELOPERS:
One developer of the proposed farm has said practices there will be environmentally safe. The company does not plan to use open waste lagoons that could leach into groundwater.
For months, residents of a small South Mills community have been protesting a hog farm being built near their homes.
They believe the enterprise will reduce their property values and lower their standard of living.
Now, the coalition has an ally that also wants to protect the quality of life - for pigs as well as people.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, has joined forces with the new, 20-odd member Coalition to Save the Dismal Swamp.
With PETA, the group plans to fight a livestock farm being built in South Mills, just below the Virginia border.
``Their motivation may not be entirely the same as ours. But the environmental aspect we're entirely in agreement with,'' said Bob Fraser, leader of the local coalition opposing the hog farm under way near his Country Village home.
The livestock operation also is about a half-mile from the environmentally sensitive Dismal Swamp Canal.
``They want to protect the habitat of the creatures that are in the swamp,'' Fraser said of PETA.
Thus far, PETA's campaign includes a letter to North Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. calling for an investigation, or at least an environmental assessment, of the proposed farm, and notification to PETA's 8,300 members in North Carolina.
The county can do little to regulate the hog operation because it is designated as a farm, not a business. The state - through the Department of Environmental Management - is the primary regulator.
``Everybody knows PETA for our more outrageous stunts, whether it's calling an end to wearing fur or asking people to go vegetarian or just doing funny stunts,'' said Tracy Reiman, a research associate with the national outfit that relocated from Washington, D.C., to Norfolk in June.
``But the fact of the matter is that's only a small part of what we do,'' said Reiman, who works in PETA's Research, Investigations and Rescue Department.
Reiman said PETA receives telephone calls all the time from people upset about hog farms being built near their property.
``In many cases, there's not much we can do,'' Reiman said. ``As long as people continue to eat animals, then they're going to have to raise the animals somewhere.''
But the Camden County case is a little different, she said.
``South Mills was interesting because it's being built so close to a federally protected waterway - the Dismal Swamp Canal,'' Reiman said.
Fraser and other opponents are certain the tract, owned by Frank Williams of Virginia Beach, eventually will house 20,000 or more swine in 23 buildings.
Williams and Dr. Fred Cunningham, a veterinarian who oversees hog operations on Williams' farms in North Carolina, did not immediately return a telephone call on Friday afternoon.
But Cunningham has said in a previous interview that the company does not have plans for such an extensive operation.
Current plans call for five buildings - a boar pen and four nurseries - to hold up to 4,272 pigs, total. Most will be piglets later sent to another facility to be readied for market, the vet said earlier.
Cunningham also has said practices on the new farm will be environmentally safe. The company will not use open waste lagoons that could leach into the groundwater.
Instead, the company is installing European-type pits beneath pens that will collect manure. The waste eventually will be extracted and injected into nearby crops, providing a natural fertilizer.
A major concern for the nearby residents is the odor the hog farm could produce - and its impact on tourism.
The site is about three miles north of the Dismal Swamp Welcome Center on U.S. 17.
``The reason these tourists come down here is to enjoy our environment. And if the hog industry is going to ruin the environment in northeastern North Carolina, then the travel and tourism will go away,'' Fraser said.
South Mills is a small town in Camden County. But hundreds of thousands of tourists pass through it annually. Most are motorists heading to or from the Outer Banks; others are boaters migrating north or south along the Intracoastal Waterway.
``Boaters are probably more environmentally aware than the population as a whole because they get to see the result of a lot of the disregard for our environment that shows up as debris in the water and fish kills,'' Fraser said.
In addition to environmental concerns, Reiman said PETA is against the treatment of swine on farms.
``Slots break and pigs fall into the pit of manure below and drown or starve to death,'' she said.
Reiman also spoke of other cruelty problems generally associated with the hog industry: pigs suffering from dehydration or eaten by each other, hogs whose heads are bashed in with hammers or who are shot numerous times before dying.
``My greatest fear is that Frank Williams is going to build a farm in South Mills with somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000 hogs, and the same thing is going to happen here,'' she said.
Reiman said she hopes the governor will act soon on PETA's request for an investigation.
``Once these things are built, it's difficult to stop them,'' she said. ``But stopping them before they're built is probably an easier thing to do.'' ILLUSTRATION: Drawing by CNB