As of April 1, the mangalitsa will be a wanted pig in Michigan. And that has some farmers very upset.

A new regulation developed by the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will prohibit the fur-covered pigs. State officials claim the pigs represent a threat to pig farmers.

But some farmers raise the mangalitsa, which produces marbled pork sought by some consumers. These farmers claim the state is in cahoots with the Michigan Pork Producers Association , which represents large pig farms that want to eliminate smaller competitors who raise the furry swine and other “heritage” pigs, which they refer to as “wild hogs” and “feral swine.”

Pete Kennedy of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund has called the prohibition “a brazen power grab” by the Michigan DNR, which is “using the state Invasive Species Act to expand its jurisdiction beyond hunting and fishing to farming operations.”

Anyone found in possession of just one of these animals could be subject to a felony conviction and serve up to four years in prison.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

To Learn More:

U.S. Pig Farmers Use Drug Banned in China as Unsafe (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)