Hog-sledding

Hog-sledding is an illegal blood sport mainly practiced in La Rossa, involving strapping a hog onto a sled and sliding it down a mountain. Although it is considered to be an unlawful activity banned by law, the practice continues to occur in some rural and mountainous parts of the country, where law enforcement remains poor. Although some communities of Montagneri continue to hold the activity, they are rare, as the hoggards tend to be highly protective of their pigs. It is mostly rural Rossans who instead carry it on, usually with bets involved. The sport has been banned since 96 TT, and represents one of the earliest laws made against animal cruelty on the island.

Rules

Though local variations exist, hog-sledding generally held the same form throughout history. Usually taking the form of a competitive game, several owners tend to come together, placing a bet on their own victory. All participants take a hog, usually a domesticated one, which is captured from a pen and tied to a sled with rope, until it is incapable of moving anymore. The sleds are taken to the edge of a muddy or snowy slope, where the hogs are lined up together. The sleds are then pushed off the edge at the same time, and allowed to slide down the side of the mountain. The goal of the illegal sport is to get the sled to travel as far down as possible, without killing the pig. The person with the highest distance wins, and having the hog die tends to result in an automatic loss. If all pigs die in the competition, usually the one that got the farthest is considered the winner. In some places, a dead pig continues to belong to the owner, in others, it goes to the winner, and the death of all pigs usually results in a feast for the village.

The sport has been used to settle disputes, make bets, as well as entertain. As each contestant is required to bring their own pig, the sport has a likelihood of financially damaging the participant if the hog ends up dying, outside of just losing the bet. For this reason, hog-sledding historically tended to occur rarely among poorer farmers. Regardless, this aspect led to the practice of setting aside some pigs for the express purpose of hog-sledding, being fed until they grew to a size where they would be able to race down the mountain without risking severe injury.

Ban

In 96 TT, during the progressive reforms of Dux Michelangelo Giannone di Salino associated with the early Rossan Silver Age, the sport was banned alongside several other activities thought to be particularly cruel to animals. The move was tied to a number of modernization reforms that recognized and enshrined the rising changes in urban morality, as large cities have become centers of new thought and ideals following the liberalization of the press. Animal suffering came to be an area of interest, leading to the government restricting what may be done to an animal one owns. While the practice has nearly been eradicated across the coastline, where most of the population is located, it has continued to persist in lowly-inhabited areas, due to the relatively low presence the Rossan Police Force has there.