Heritage Swine=Invasive Species in Michigan!

[SmokinChick]

http://grist.org/locavore/michigan-threatens-small-farms-by-calling-heritage-pigs-invasive/

Interesting read, shame what the governmet does to "protect" the masses. I hate the big business arguement but, if the big pig industry doesn't push this nobody really cares. So a few hundred pigs escape state run hunting farms and the small pig farmer gets charged as a felon! Nice.
Another article stated a farmer had to shoot all his pigs and pigletts. After being raided by armed SWAT members.
When they came for the pig farms, we looked the other way. Then they came for our chickens....

 

[Matthew3590]

All swine are "invasive" in North America.

 

[RHRanch]

Here is a really interesting video from a small pork farmer. It seems that this law is out of control already. We should sign petitions to protect legitimate pig farmers. At the least, this is unsettling....

http://www.libertariannews.org/2012...-farmers-forces-farmer-to-shoot-all-his-pigs/

http://www.naturalnews.com/035585_Michigan_farms_raids.html

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote:

http://grist.org/locavore/michigan-threatens-small-farms-by-calling-heritage-pigs-invasive/

Interesting read, shame what the governmet does to "protect" the masses. I hate the big business arguement but, if the big pig industry doesn't push this nobody really cares.
So a few hundred pigs escape state run hunting farms and the small pig farmer gets charged as a felon! Nice.

Another article stated a farmer had to shoot all his pigs and pigletts. After being raided by armed SWAT members.
When they came for the pig farms, we looked the other way. Then they came for our chickens....

There's a LOT of misinformation being spread about this.

The preserves were NOT "state run"
They are private property

Those "few hundred" pigs that escaped can become THOUSANDS in a few years if not controlled.

They will do untold damage to crops and native wildlife, and will be next to impossible to get rid of

That "farmer" did NOT have to shoot his pigs.
That was HIS choice.

There were no "SWAT teams."
They were Game Wardens, who are Law Enforcement Officers, and therefore are "armed"

Another detail being left out is these are NOT just "small family farms"
They are hunting preserves (Pay to Hunt) raising Russian Boars (a WILD breed, not a "heritage"breed or even a domesticated breed), then releasing them into 200-300 acre fenced areas to be hunted

Russin Boar were first brought to NC over 100 years ago, and we have been trying to get rid of them ever since, but every year there are more:

http://www.wildlife.state.nc.us/Management/boar.htm

Quote: In April 1912, a shipment of 14 European wild hogs, including 11 sows and 3 boars, arrived and was released in the lot. They each weighed approximately 60 to 75 pounds. They were purchased from an agent in Berlin, Germany, who claimed that they came from the Ural Mountains of Russia. The hogs arrived in Murphy by train and were hauled to Hooper's Bald by ox*drawn wagon. One sow died en route to Hooper's Bald.

From the beginning the lot was not hog proof, and apparently some of the hogs rooted out and escaped and returned at will. The majority remained in the lot for eight to 10 years and increased in numbers. In the early 1920s, when the lot contained approximately 60 to 100 hogs, a hunt with dogs was conducted.


Only two hogs were killed, but many escaped the lot during the hunt. The escapees became established in the surrounding mountain terrain of Graham County, North Carolina and Monroe County, Tennessee. Today Hooper's Bald is owned by the U.S. Forest Service and is a part of the Nantahala National Forest."

 

[mom'sfolly]

No one has been charged as a felon.

In many parts of the country, feral hogs a huge agricultural pest. They are also dangerous.

While I agree the state should have regulated the hunting ranches that were involved, and continue to be involved, declaring feral hogs a invasive species make sense. It allows them to act before the problem becomes too great to control.

No where do I see any indication that they are going to go after domestic hogs being raised on small farms.

 

[Mattemma]

I think there is a show that is about a company in the south that catches(and kills) pigs.Pigs are becoming a big problem.