Man guilty in pig killing

A Circuit Court jury convicted Joseph B. Calarruda V yesterday on a felony charge of theft of livestock for killing a Mililani farmer's pet pig in 2006.

Calarruda, 28, will be sentenced Oct. 29 by Circuit Judge Richard Pollack. Calarruda faces up to five years in prison.

The jury deliberated for one day after hearing testimony about the death of "Porky," a 6-year-old hog who belonged to Aaron O'Brien, resident manager of a 130-acre lychee farm above Mililani Mauka subdivision.

"It's pretty cool," O'Brien said yesterday in a telephone interview. "It's about time that something's being done about these things."

Calarruda was hunting wild pigs when his dogs cornered Porky in the farm carport on Oct. 22, 2006. Although a resident told him that he was on private property and the pig was a pet, Calarruda went into the carport and stabbed the pig to death.

Because the animal, which had been featured on an Island Air commercial, was valued at more than $2,000, Calarruda was charged with the Class C felony charge, punishable by five years in prison.

Calarruda is currently serving a 10-year term for a 2006 firearm offense.

The killing prompted the Humane Society of the United States to send a letter to the city asking that the culprit be prosecuted.

Kawehi Yim, Hawaiian Humane Society spokeswoman, said her agency was pleased that Calarruda was convicted.

At the farm, O'Brien has planted an ironwood pine on top of Porky's grave. He brings food to the memorial on the date of Porky's death.

"He hasn't been replaced," O'Brien said. "We tried a lot of different pigs, and we haven't gotten one like him, nothing with that kind of personality." O'Brien said some ran away, and the others just run around on the farm.

O'Brien raised the pig from its birth and remembered his 300-pound friend as a "gentle giant" who would obey commands such as "sit" and "lie down."

"I honestly don't think he thought he was a pig, because he didn't like the other pigs," he said. "I think he thought he was a dog."

Since the killing of Porky, the state has passed a tougher law against animal cruelty, making it a Class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Calarruda's prosecution has deterred hunting activities on his farm, O'Brien said. Before Porky died, hunters would walk onto the farm with their guns and dogs and return after being told to leave.