Greener Solutions

I'm sending the following editorial to the Hutchinson News. I'm sure I won't be in the popular majority, but sometimes things become so stupidly obvious that I just can't stand NOT to say anything.

If you've read this once, please note: it's been revised.

In Sunday’s News there were several complete sections devoted to making our environment greener. Elements of Progress: Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water. Interesting stuff!
However, in Saturday’s News was the report of killing feral hogs southwest of here around Sun City. Those boars were tested for disease - and in the past four years no animals have tested positive - and yet those bodies were to be buried. Couldn’t this pork be used to feed some of the homeless and hungry - or donated to the prisons to feed the people there? Maybe the local grocer can’t put it in their cases due to some federal law (just a guess), but surely someone could use it, rather than just trashing it. There are still plenty of people who remember growing up eating rabbits and squirrels, even possums and raccoons on occasion. And I know first hand that barbequed goat can be delicious! If it’s ok to slaughter deer and "dine on venison", why can’t we find a use for all that pork? If we’re trying to cut our tax dollars and our tax dollars are in part funding our prisons, wouldn’t free meat help with that? If your response is "the prisoners don’t want it"...my response is "then don’t get sent to prison!"
If it’s somehow not fit for human consumption, how about getting it to some of the local zoos for the big cats and other meat-eaters. I’m sure they wouldn’t turn up their noses and say "Ew, it’s wild boar!"
I don’t have any problem with the killing of these animals. I understand they are destructive. But, all in all if we’re genuinely looking for ways to be "greener", wouldn’t it make sense to try looking in our "own backyards"? The article stated that the first three years of the program cost about $450,000...maybe we could re-coup some of that?