Feral swine running wild in eastern New Mexico

Prolific feral swine populations are ravaging eastern New Mexico range and farmland and creating an ecological nightmare, according to state and federal wildlife officials. An astonishing reproductive rate has seen hogs spread to 17 New Mexico counties in just seven years. Farmer and rancher Ted Rush of Quay County has hunted and killed more than 300 feral swine on his land. They rooted up his feed roads and destroyed thousands of dollars in milo and sorghum crops. “My wheat fields looked like they’d been bombed by the military, there were huge craters everywhere” Rush said. An increase in similar incidents could have a potentially devastating effect on New Mexico’s economy. Since Curry and Roosevelt counties do not have rivers and streams, which feral hogs depend on to keep cool, Curry County extension agent Stan Jones said he does not anticipate a huge problem in our area. State director of wildlife services Alan May disagrees. “A population of feral pigs is doing quite well in the sandhills of New Mexico living off livestock water troughs provided by ranchers” May said. Ron Jones, a wildlife specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said he utilizes abandoned windmill sites with running water to track the pig’s progress across the state. Jones said, “There are only two kinds of land owners in New Mexico — those who have feral pigs- and those who will.”...more