‘The Last Pig’ screened at Hudson Valley

Emily Lougee
Guest Contributor

Students and community members gathered in the BTC to watch a documentary about an Upstate New York farmer and his connections to the pigs he helped raise.

“The Last Pig,” screened last Thursday, is a film that shows what it’s like the be a creature who is not only capable of feeling but also able to kill. It follows pig farmer Bob Comis from Schoharie, New York and the ethical struggle he experiences when he is supposed to slaughter feeder pigs.

A panel and audience discussion with director Allison Argo, pig farmer Bob Comis and Kathy Stevens, director of the Catskill Animal Sanctuary, where a number of Bob’s animals were relocated after he retired from pig farming, was held after the screening.

During the audience discussion, someone directed a question to Comis, asking if sitting in the audience watching the film invoked any kind of emotional response from him. He answered the question by recalling when they toured in Italy.

“At one point, I say to the pig, ‘Come on, buddy’ as he lead the pig to the slaughter house,” Comis said. “For some reason, the juxtaposition of me saying, ‘Come on, buddy’ [stuck with him. He] drove home thinking about how hypocritical and paradoxal my relationship with the pigs was.”

Comis went on to explain he realized that when he beckoned his pigs warmly he was really saying, “Get in the trailer so I can take you to the slaughter house and have you killed.” He realized how seeing the pigs be that trusting of him when they followed him so willingly was difficult and how it really touched home with him. He also said he got emotional when seeing parts with his dog, Monk, who has passed since the film finished production.

One question everyone on the panel discussed was how Comis’ two pigs had such human-like personalities. Comis and Argo mentioned how when the amount of pigs dwindled from around 250 to 20, the two were able to notice the personalities of the pigs.

The two pigs that stuck out the most to both Comis and Argo were named Audrey and Mario. Audrey was described not as the runt of the litter but definitely smaller than most pigs. She was also said to be the leader. Mario, however, always wanted to be petted and would start nuzzling your leg when you stopped petting him. These two pigs stuck out so much that Bob refused to let them go to the slaughter house and made sure he found a home for them.

Comis was able to get the pigs into the Catskill Animal Sanctuary under the direction of Kathy Stevens. There’s a sort of mantra that explains the philosophy of the Catskill Animal Sanctuary: “In the ways that truly matter, we are all the same.”

While preparing for this event, both Valerie Lang Waldin, faculty advisor of the college’s Animal Outreach Club and Maria Zemantauski, head of the Cultural Affairs Program, had high hopes for this screening, as both groups co-sponsored the screening.

“Last night far exceeded our expectations on every level — the film, the people, the engaged, articulate, probing audience, the crowd — all of it,” Waldin said.