Aided by hunters, destructive wild pigs spreading
chatnoir
headline:
Aided by hunters, destructive wild pigs spreading
Submitted by SHNS on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 15:47 By ISAAC WOLF and JASON
BARTZ, Scripps Howard News ServicenationalShareThis America's wild pig
population is exploding and spreading across the country, more than
doubling in size and range in the past 20 years.
Two decades ago, somewhere between 500,000 and 2 million wild pigs
roamed the United States, according to Jack Mayer, a national expert
on the problem.
Now the population numbers between 2 million and 6 million. In 1982,
feral pigs were documented in 17 states. Today, they are found in 44.
Wildlife experts say the hogs, which can weigh as much as 500 to 750
pounds, are increasingly running roughshod in rural areas, suburbs and
even a few cities, digging up cemeteries, gardens and lawns; causing
car wrecks -- and occasionally attacking people.
"They eat our crops. They root up our wetlands. They compete with our
native species. They damage property. They run into our cars," said
Mayer, a scientist with the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River
National Laboratory in Aiken, S.C.
This year alone:
-- A wild pig attacked a St. Petersburg, Fla. woman in her back yard
in April, goring her leg. In November, an Avon Park, Fla., driver died
when her sports utility vehicle flipped after colliding with a wild
hog.
-- In Detroit, a wild pig wandered through downtown in March, making
its way to the home of a family in nearby Warren, Mich.
-- In September in a Redding, Calif.-area subdivision, an estimated
100 feral hogs tore out the landscaping and turned lawns into muddy
messes.
excerpt:
Man is largely to blame for the wild-pig proliferation in North
America.
First introduced to the continent by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto
in 1539, pigs commonly accompanied settlers to the New World,
according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Eurasian wild boar
were introduced into the American wilderness beginning in about 1900.
Today's wild pig population is largely a combination of domestic pigs,
Eurasian wild boar -- or some hybrid blend of the two.
Popular as game animals, the pigs have for years been trucked from
southern states like Texas and Florida, where wild hogs have been
documented in every county, into backwoods areas several states away
where they are let loose on private land for hunters to bag.
For sure, the pigs are affected by external factors. There are reports
that feral hog populations are down this year parts of California,
because of droughts and increased hunting.
But the pigs that aren't killed by hunters don't stay on private
property. And because they are prolific breeders, the pigs go on the
move to forage, and their territory increasingly intersects with
expanding suburbs and other development.
Today, wild pigs are permanently established in 21 states, according
to Mayer's research. In another 12, the hog population is sizable, but
can still be eradicated if action is taken soon. In 11, a hog or two
has been spotted in one county or another -- few enough for states to
head off the pig infestation before it gets established. ... (cont)
chatnoir
http://www.scrippsnews.com/content/state-state-breakdown-wild-pigs-population
headline:
State-by-state breakdown of wild pigs population ... (cont)