Category Archives: feral swine

More Feral Hog News

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feral swine pigletIf you just can’t get enough feral hog news, eXtension, a network of university extension services has a resource for you: the Feral Hog Community of Practice Facebook page. This page not only has what has to be every single newspaper article published on feral hogs from across the country, also has expert tracking or trapping tips, and the occasional link to webinars and podcasts.

Visit the Feral Hog Community of Practice Facebook page here.

Photo:  A feral swine piglet. By Steve Hillebrand, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

NY Halts Hunting of Free-Range Boar

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feral swine pigletIn an attempt to stop the spread of free-range Eurasian boar, the State of New York has proposed to ban the public from hunting or trapping them. Public comments are open until January 25, 2014.

The press release says: “Hunters pursuing wild boars in locations where baited traps have been established by DEC or USDA can also undermine these costly and labor-intensive capture efforts. Shooting may remove one or two animals but the rest of the sounder [pack] scatters and rarely comes back together as a group, thereby hampering eradication efforts.”

In the press release, NY State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph Martens is quoted as saying, “Many hunters have offered to assist our efforts by hunting for boars wherever they occur, but experience has shown this to be counter-productive,” Martens said. “As long as swine may be pursued by hunters, there is a potential conflict with our swine eradication efforts.

Read the NYS DEC press release, here.

Photo: A feral swine piglet. By Steve Hillebrand, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Wild Pig Conference – April 2014

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pig conferenceFrom the conference website:

Damage caused by wild pigs is one of the greatest concerns to wildlife biologists and managers today. Wild pigs have the potential to cause ecological and economical destruction far surpassing any other invasive exotic vertebrate. The International Wild Pig Conference provides federal, state, and private stakeholders a venue to discuss biological, financial, and social implications specific to wild pig subsistence in our ecosystems.

The conference will be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center on April 14 – 16, 2014.

For more information, including registration and a call for papers, visit the conference website, here.

Here A Pig, There A Pig

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Old MacDonald never had it so good with his own domestic pigs. But if he has a farm in the Northwestern US, he may soon regret the success of feral swine, which have become a big problem in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

That has led those three states to create the “Squeal on Pigs” campaign to encourage hunters and others to report feral swine sightings. Local newspaper coverage (see below) reports a toll-free phone number for reporting the swine, but no info on a website for further info.

Read the article in the Spokane Spokesman-Review, here.
Read the Idaho Statesman article, here.

More info from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, here.

Of course, knowing how many feral swine you have in your state and whether that number is growing or declining is always an issue. “Squeal on Pigs” is one solution, but another is presented in the June issue of Wildlife Biology. European researchers have had success using DNA from fecal samples to model a feral swine population.

Read more in Wildlife Biology. (Subscription or fee required for full article.)

Photo: A feral swine piglet.

Here A Pig, There A Pig

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Old MacDonald never had it so good with his own domestic pigs. But if he has a farm in the Northwestern US, he may soon regret the success of feral swine, which have become a big problem in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

That has led those three states to create the “Squeal on Pigs” campaign to encourage hunters and others to report feral swine sightings. Local newspaper coverage (see below) reports a toll-free phone number for reporting the swine, but no info on a website for further info.

Read the article in the Spokane Spokesman-Review, here.
Read the Idaho Statesman article, here.

More info from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, here.

Of course, knowing how many feral swine you have in your state and whether that number is growing or declining is always an issue. “Squeal on Pigs” is one solution, but another is presented in the June issue of Wildlife Biology. European researchers have had success using DNA from fecal samples to model a feral swine population.

Read more in Wildlife Biology. (Subscription or fee required for full article.)

Photo: A feral swine piglet.

Swine vs. Alligator

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Back in the ’70s, ’80s ad ’90s studies showed that feral swine were not major predators of alligator nests, says a paper in the current issue of Southeastern Naturalist. More recently, however, alligator farmers have been complaining that a regional increase in feral swine has lead to an increase in alligator egg predation.

About 590 alligator nests were destroyed on 36 different properties, the paper says. The paper also mentions that trying to reduce the number of feral swine on a property does seem to help alligator nest survival rates.

A PDF on feral swine from the US Geological Survey also includes this statistic as well as a photo of an alligator nest after predation by feral swine.

Read the Southeastern Naturalist article here.
Read the US Geological Survey article here.

Photo: Alligator nest after predation by feral swine. Photo by Jeff Donald, courtesy US Geological Survey

Swine vs. Alligator

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Back in the ’70s, ’80s ad ’90s studies showed that feral swine were not major predators of alligator nests, says a paper in the current issue of Southeastern Naturalist. More recently, however, alligator farmers have been complaining that a regional increase in feral swine has lead to an increase in alligator egg predation.

About 590 alligator nests were destroyed on 36 different properties, the paper says. The paper also mentions that trying to reduce the number of feral swine on a property does seem to help alligator nest survival rates.

A PDF on feral swine from the US Geological Survey also includes this statistic as well as a photo of an alligator nest after predation by feral swine.

Read the Southeastern Naturalist article here.
Read the US Geological Survey article here.

Photo: Alligator nest after predation by feral swine. Photo by Jeff Donald, courtesy US Geological Survey

More States Turning to Night Hunting for Problem Animals

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North Carolina, Arizona and Tennessee are among the states that are allowing night hunting for problem species like feral swine, coyotes and mountain lions when existing hunting practices fail to reduce populations, says an article in USA Today.

Night hunting is allowed in 42 states, the article says, quoting data from the Indiana-based National Predator Hunters Association.

In the article, a coyote coexistence advocate is quoted as saying that hunting does little to reduce population levels of the fecund coyote. That’s a sentiment shared by many wildlife managers was well, regarding both coyotes and feral swine.

Read the USA Today article here.
PDF article on feral swine in New Hampshire Fish and Game’s magazine.

Photo: Feral swine piglet. If only they were all this cute. By Steve Hillebrand, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Tennessee’s War on Wild Hogs Not for Civilians

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What’s the best way to get rid of an invasive species that is clever, dangerous and tastes pretty good? In the case of wild hogs in Tennessee, one strategy was not to put any limits on hunting the animals. Hunters were allowed, even encouraged, to hunt wild hogs at any time of year and kill as many as they would like.

Earlier this year, however, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency rethought that strategy. It seems that instead of eliminating hogs in the state, the range of the animals was growing as enthusiastic hunters transported and released hogs in new locations.

Now the hogs are considered a nuisance species, and while landowners can kill wild hogs causing property damage on their land, the hogs can’t legally be hunted by the average citizen. Read the press release from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency announcing the change, here.

This week The Tennessean reports that not everyone likes the change. While the state’s largest hunting organization supports the new designation, the article reports, another group, the Tennessee Hunters Alliance, has been formed to protest the new change.

Read the article in The Tennessean, with the history of the move, here.

 Photo: A feral swine piglet. By Steve Hillebrand, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Texas Takes to the Air to Reduce Feral Swine

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The article, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says it’s war. More than two million feral swine in Texas are causing half a billion dollars of damage, uprooting everything from crops to tombstones in cemeteries. The latest weapon: the “pork chopper,” helicopter hunting trips recently approved by the state legislature.

An hour on the chopper costs $475, and the firm that runs the trips requires hunters to take $350 hunting safety course. Most hunters book a five or six hour flight, the article says.

About 15,000 feral swine were killed through the program last year. The numbers have declined through each of the three years of the program. For the rest of the details, read the article here.

Photo: Steve Hillebrand, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service