Feral Pigs

KristyHall

Crowing
8 Years
Jan 27, 2011
5,047
190
288
North Alabama
Not exactly chicken related but defiantly farm related.
I know how to fix the problem.... Bacon! *gets her gun*

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/02/07/oink-feral-pigs-growing-problem/

No Oink About It, Feral Pig Problem Spreading
By Ruth Ravve

Published February 07, 2011
| FoxNews.com
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AP

"Jan. 13, 2011: Feral pigs stand at Renegade Ranch in Cheboygan, Mich., where hunters can hunt a variety of game including feral pigs.
War is being waged right now across the country -- against huge, ever-growing packs of feral pigs that are running rampant, destroying crops, killing wildlife and spreading disease everywhere they go, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports.

They’ve been spotted all the way from Texas to California to Michigan and in New York.

“It's estimated there are at least 4 million of them nationwide, but its impossible to count them all so there may be much more” said Carol Bannerman, a spokesman for the USDA Wildlife Services.

Officials say they cause more than $8 million worth of damage every year. “That amount doesn’t include impact to the natural environment and native species, or to water” Bannerman said. One disease humans can get, she said, by coming in contact with the beasts bodily fluids is called "swine brucellosis," and is extremely painful.

Historians think the hogs were first brought by explorers to this country from Spain in the late 1500s. The boars bred and spread -- and have chomped their way across the country ever since, devouring crops and small livestock.

The pigs are most prevalent in the South, where the climate is most conducive. Texas is said to have the largest population.

In Florida, the animals’ numbers are rapidly increasing. Bryan Swanson, of All Star Animal Rescue in St. Petersburg, said his phone has been ringing off the hook lately, as the pigs make their way into neighborhoods and playgrounds.

“Their population is absolutely exploding because their breeding cycle is insane,” Swanson said. “Just six months after being born, the hogs can have a full litter of up to 13 more hogs. They have no natural predators, so there's nothing to stop them.”

Swanson said people have complained about pets being attacked and yards being destroyed. “You can have a beautifully manicured lawn one day and then wake up the next day and its like a bulldozer went through it," he said.

One group that enjoys the growing pork population are hunters.

“A lot of people like to hunt feral swine because the pigs are so intelligent, it’s a lot more challenging to hunt them than, say, deer or bears. They’re considered fun to hunt,” said Mary Dettloff of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

The state, which is estimated to have about 6,000 wild swine, now has a “shoot on sight order,” which means anyone with any type of hunting license can legally kill a feral pig. In July 2011, it will become legal for a person to shoot a hog that comes onto his property as well, she said.

Although Midwest states like Michigan have a smaller number of swine, the animals are so adaptable they’re able to survive even in harsh winter weather by growing hair on their coats and developing tusks, Dettloff said, so “we expect to see a lot more of them over the next several years.”

Animal rights groups are outraged over what they say is persecution of pigs. Don Anthony, of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, said he doesn’t believe the swine are causing all the problems that are claimed.

He wants state leaders to “leave them alone or find a way to neuter them to keep their population down,” he said. Since the hogs have been in the United States for five hundred years, they’re “almost natives,” so “we should be used to them by now. Killing them is barbaric and unnecessary,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is taking the problem very seriously. "Because of the impact it has on everything from agriculture to natural resources and humans’ health and safety, its an extremely important problem,” Bannerman said."
 
Oh no kidding! You know that big hog that was made famous when a boy killed it in Alabama? I live within an hour from there! They ravage my crops, they eat ground nesting bird eggs, they hurt livestock, and raid chicken and ducks nests. argh! But boy are they tasty. Wild pig has a flavor that is a bit different than domestic hog, it gives it this twange.... mmmm
 
When my brothers and hubby want to go hunting they just go outside, get in a tree, and shoot.
hmm.png
 
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It is. You can also catch them live and feed them out a few months and it takes the game taste out if you don't like that.
 
We have a family deer lease in Junction, TX right on the Llano River and there are pigs EVERYWHERE! We set out snares when we go up there and usually get 2-3 a night, plus the ones that we get in the hog traps and with a rifle. We don't waste them though, they get quartered up and taken home for the freezer. If your sitting in your deer stand you can always tell when a group of hogs are coming bc all the deer will run off. They taste pretty good though!
 
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Wild pigs are a growing problem in just about every part of the country. It appears that Alaska is the only state without some form of wild hog. Many of those in the south go back to pigs the Spanish explorers turned loose. In the north many places Russian wild boars were release or escaped from hunting camps--we have those in my area. Many are just domestic hogs that were turned loose to forage (early pioneers used them to get rid of snakes) and never recovered. Wild ones have been known to break in to domestic hog pens and free them, within a year or two the escapees are wild. NYS is one where you only need a legal hunting license to take as many as you want using any method. There is a long thread under Pest and Predators about these with pictures of some members' hunting results.
BTW it was Hogzilla.
 

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