Feral hogs from Canada may go hog wild in US

[left-of-center2012]

Packs of wild hogs from Canada appear to be edging closer to the US border — and wildlife officials are squealing over the ecological nightmare they could cause, according to a report. Feral boar sightings are spiking near the Montana border as the aggressive, sometimes disease-carrying invaders move south, U.S. Department of Agriculture officials warned, according to the Daily Inter Lake newspaper.

“Multiple people say that if we were to design an invasive species that would do the most widespread damage, feral swine aren’t too far off from being the perfect specimen,” Dale Nolte of the USDA’s National Feral Swine Program told the newspaper. “[More coming] would be a disaster.” Along with breeding like bunnies, the sharp-tusked swine root and wallow in farms, fields and forests — destroying huge swaths of land along the way.

They move quickly and carry diseases such as African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease, which could spread to other animals. Each year, the pugnacious porkers cause about $1.5 billion in damage in the US, according to the USDA.

More than 6 million feral swine can already be found in 32 states in the US, the agency said. Last month, a tweet from an Arkansas resident, about dozens of wild boar invading his yard went viral.

“Legit question for rural Americans — How do I kill the 30-50 feral hogs that run into my yard within 3-5 mins while my small kids play?” he asked.

https://nypost.com/2019/09/12/feral-hogs-from-canada-may-go-hog-wild-in-us-report/

[RainCaster]

1. Feral orange hog from NY goes hog wild in DC

After a lifetime of grabbing pussy and grifting the government, he has become a stupid swine that wants to live in DC for the rest of his life.

[2naSalit]

2. +

[Cirque du So-What]

4. ...

?w=720

[Celerity]

7. +10000

[lordsummerisle]

3. In the South this is largely the result of

yahoo hunters releasing them into the wild to have something to shoot at...

[MicaelS]

6. Do you have proof of this?

Or is this just more bashing of the South?

[lordsummerisle]

8. I've read several articles on this

one in myrtlebeachonline.com which I can't seem to find but here's another:

https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/feral-hogs/hunting-faq/

and incidentally I live in the South...

[MicaelS]

14. Stupid assholes.

Thanks for the link.

[Lars39]

9. Hank Williams Jr did this in west TN

a few decades ago. Really pissed off the locals.

[MicaelS]

12. Real dumbass to do that. n/t

[Arkansas Granny]

16. There are several ranches that offer hunting for hogs and other

animals. Some of the feral swine ate escapees from these controlled hunting sites.

[MicaelS]

17. Goddamn it.

Stupid fucking bastards for doing this.

[Blue_true]

21. They grow wild here.

I think the issue is poor management by states. I don't think many allow dogs to herd them to hunters. Also, bag limits need to be raised until the populations drop.

[2naSalit]

5. Not like we don't already have a whole bunch already.

[shanti]

10. According to this map

Every California county except one has wild hogs. I've never seen one though.

[2naSalit]

13. I've never seen them

in my travels in any of the places they exist, myself. But then, we have lots of bears here and I didn't see any for a couple years. And they walked through my yard at night.

[Hekate]

15. Nor have I. We have very diverse habitats in our counties, but while I've heard of bears, pumas,...

...coyotes, and other wildlife, I've not heard or read of wild boar except in the Channel Islands, where they were introduced by hunters and ultimately proved to be an ecological problem. I do know that over the past century or more, hunters introduced boar into a variety of places -- like Hawaii, altho I didn't know they were on Oahu as well. They are very dangerous.

[Blue_true]

22. They are very clever. The South is loaded with them, but it is rare to come across one.

The issue with controlling them is poor management of hunting them.

[Arkansas Granny]

11. My boss has a "cabin" on several acres that has been invaded by wild hogs.

They can really do a lot of damage to farmland and other wildlife in the area. They can be hunted year round and there's no limit on killing them. They breed so fast that it's impossible to get rid of them.

He has allowed others to hunt the feral hogs on his property and friends have killed several of them and had the meat processed and made into sausage. It's quite tasty. I've used it to make sausage gravy, spaghetti sauce, Italian meat balls and several other recipes .

The state has a program where you can take wild game, including hogs, to participating processors and donate the meat to food banks. The state picks up the tab for the processing. I don't think we can eat enough of them to control the population, but every one that is killed is one less to breed.

When you get right down to it, they are free range animals eating a natural diet free of antibiotics and hormones. While they do roll in mud, they aren't standing in their own feces all day long.

[3Hotdogs]

18. I recall, they were introduced into New Hampshire for sport hunting.

[First Speaker]

19. Maybe they'll run into the Killer Bees coming up from the South...

...and the two problems will solve each other...

[OnDoutside]

24. Maybe they'd end up with Bee-stung lips, for which you'd have to put lipstick on them ?

[brooklynite]

20. "when Canada sends us their pigs, they don't send us their best..."

[UniteFightBack]

23. All the more reason why we need to build a wall on our NORTHERN border. The invasion is coming from

up there.