My subject for this week falls into the category of things I bet you didn”t know. I certainly wasn”t aware of it until, by chance, I saw a Scripps Howard report recently. The country is being overrun by wild hogs. And no, I”m not talking about baby boomers on Harleys, like in the 2007 movie “Wild Hogs,” with John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy. These are tusk-baring, grunting, ferocious, disease carrying and dangerous wild animals.
The two states with the largest wild hog populations are Texas and Florida. It has been reported that feral pigs are in 35 states and there are large, established populations in 21 states. California is in that group. The nationwide wild hog population estimate is between two and six million. Florida is absolutely being overrun by the creatures. They are known to live in every Florida county.
Bill Giuliano, an assistant professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Florida”s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences said, “Because they are prolific breeders, there is no way to completely eradicate them. Even with intensive hunting pressure, you”re not going to get rid of them.” Giuliano calls them “pioneer pigs.” He said that they can be traced all the way back to 1539, when Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto brought hogs to southwest Florida. Some of them found their freedom in the New World.
The fact that the population of the wild hogs has been exploding, even though wild hog hunting has become more prevalent, has started to cause problems in many states other than Florida. They are actually known to be quite fast and their tusks do make them dangerous to people. Like many wild animals, they will often run from humans, but they are unpredictable. If threatened, they will fight ferociously.
They survive on many sources of food. Farmers and ranchers don”t like them because they eat young, domestic livestock, such as chickens, lambs and goats, and will forage on a wide variety of agricultural crops. In forests, they feed on tree seeds and young seedlings. Some experts believe they are part of the reason long-leaf pine forests in the Southeast are not regenerating.
The wild hogs are also well-known disease carriers. They harbor a large number of diseases that are dangerous, not only to other animals, but to humans, too. The list includes: hog cholera, psuedorabies, tuberculosis, salmonellosis and anthrax. They are also major parasite hosts; providing food and transportation for lice, fleas, ticks, flukes and worms.
In a new subdivision in Missouri City, Texas, after having the yard of their brand new home landscaped; too frequently the following morning, homeowners have awakened to a lawn that appeared to have been plundered by a herd of wild hogs ? because it was. The city hired two contractors to trap and remove the beasts. They caught 60, but, Michael Weiss, a state game warden with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Law Enforcement Division, said that the wild hogs breed too fast to get rid of them all. He said the 60 that were trapped will soon be replaced by 60 more.
Weiss started his career 25 years ago. He said that when he started the wild hogs were limited to a few areas of the huge state. Today, he said, like in Florida, they are in every county. The bad news is that after a long career of watching the population grow and spread, Weiss said, “I don”t know what the solution is. There”s not one, really.”
Gary Dickson is the editor and publisher of the Record-Bee. Call him at 263-5636, ext. 24. E-mail him at gdickson@record-bee.com.
