Hampstead twins Dustin and Dylan Schreibman darted, dashed and splashed in the pit of mud and puddles, but they and two other youngsters couldn't get a good grip on "the other white meat."
For 90 seconds, the diminutive pig eluded capture inside a fenced-in ring - sometimes standing still long enough to allow the youngsters to close in, only to slip away again. The audience of 200 that braved yesterday's pouring rain at Spring Meadow Farms in Upperco laughed and cheered.
And Spring Meadow Farms owner Stan Dabkowski smiled with delight. He had staged his first pig corralling contest as promised, despite protests from an animal-rights group and warnings from Baltimore County animal-control officials that the event might violate county law.
Two county officials who declined to be interviewed and refused to give their names filmed the event yesterday evening. And although some of Dabkowski's customers objected in the week leading up to the contest, no one showed up to protest.
Dabkowski said that county animal-control officials had told him they would study the film this week, then decide whether citations were warranted. County code prohibits causing or instigating combat between animals and humans.
Twenty groups of four-member teams took turns attempting to corral pigs and place them in a round, shallow water trough for a $150 prize. Each had 90 seconds to do so. Some were able to do it in as few as 25 seconds. Others, like the Schreibmans' group, couldn't manage to corral the pig.
"It was hard, but very fun," said Dustin Schreibman, 12. "I kept slipping and everything."
Before the contest began, Dabkowski spoke to the crowd about the controversy his event had caused.
"This has been a stressful week for me," he said, "because we have had some opposition. As everyone knows, the animal-rights people, and some of our customers, unfortunately, and members of PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] think this contest is abusive and cruel. Hopefully, tonight we can prove to them that they're wrong."
Dabkowski said he got the idea from a friend and fellow farmer in Pennsylvania who has generated considerable fanfare and steady cash flow from pig-wrestling events. Dabkowski invested $3,000 in 24 pigs and construction of a 30-foot-diameter ring, modeled on rings he had seen on the online video-sharing site YouTube.
