Man Mistakes Girlfriend for a Hog, Shoots It

[The "It" Parade.]

Life at home for one Florida man got a lot more complicated when he accidentally shot his girlfriend in both legs thinking she was a hog.

Flagler County Sheriff's deputies say 52-year-old Steven Egan was hog hunting Saturday night with girlfriend Lisa Simmons at a hunting camp off a rural county road in Flagler, in the northern part of the state.

Around 7:30 p.m., officials said, Egan shot at a hog and then left Simmons behind in the tent to go look for it. When he heard a noise in the woods he fired his gun again, thinking it was the animal.

Unbeknown to Egan, Simmons had also left the tent to pick up loose oranges that had fallen from trees on the property. Instead of hitting his wild target, Egan struck his girlfriend in both legs with a .30-caliber bullet.

"He saw a hog and thought he shot it and went to look for it," Maj. Steve Clair with the Flagler County Sheriff's Office told ABCNews.com. "He heard her and thought it was a hog and just shot."

Simmons, of Brandon, had to be airlifted to the Halifax Health Medical Center for surgery and was listed in serious condition.

Authorities said they did not plan to charge Egan in the incident.

"He was very sympathetic that he'd shot his girlfriend," Clair said. " It was an accident. I think it was just a violation of one of the cardinal rules of hunting which is you never shoot what you don't see."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

L I N K

[Karin Yates]

Well if she were a vegan...

[Carolyn Bailey]

I think the title of this post shows just how powerful our language can be. 

I can't imagine many humans not being offended with the title of this post, but if it were referring to the hog, and calling her "it", it wouldn't be worthy of questioning to most people.

It's convenient, in some ways, for many people, to believe that hogs and other animals (other than humans) are commodities. It seems to make life easier in so many ways.