America is facing 'time-bomb' explosion of millions of 'super pigs' that can reproduce at just three months old, grow up to 400lbs and destroy thousands of square miles of farms and livestock

The United States is on the cusp of a huge pig 'time bomb' with the number feral hogs increasing in huge numbers. Research scientist Dr. Jack Mayer, a zoologist who has been researching wild pigs for 40 years, has warned that the population could keep on growing unless there is a sudden swine flu epidemic. 'It's a crazy situation with everything that's happened in what I call the Pig Bomb, which has exploded in North America,' Jack Mayer told The Daily Beast about the wild population of six million and two million in Texas alone. 'There's not another animal that can put little feet on the ground quicker than a wild pig.' Mayer blames global warming for increasing the survival rate of newborn piglets and producing more acorns, bulbs, roots and tubers for them to eat. They can start reproducing at just three months old and do so twice a year. 

 California and Texas have also encouraged recreational hunting as a way to reduce their pig populations, but even if three quarters of the population is killed off, they would be able to fully repopulate within three years. Across the U.S. as a whole there are currently believed to me as many as nine million feral swine in 39 states and they are expanding at a rate of 35,000 square miles a year. The pigs aren't the cuddly cartoon kind but a mixture of breeds coupled with wild boar. 'It creates what we'd call super-pigs,' said Ryan Brook, a biologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. The 'super-pigs' are able to grow large and can have litters of 10 or more each. 'Pig populations are completely out of control,' Brook says. 'The efforts to deal with them are about 1 percent of what's currently needed.' He says that his province of Saskatchewan will soon have more wild pigs than people.

There is a growing urge to deal with the problem as the animals are responsible for an estimated $2.5 billion worth of damage each year as they plough through crops, destroy plants, attack calves, lambs and pregnant livestock. The feral pigs carry bacterial diseases and parasites too. Montanans have been educated on the issue with a catchy campaign called 'Squeal on Pigs' that encourages residents to call a 24-hour hotline should they see any sightings so wildlife staff can trap and kill the animals. 

 Pigs end up going wild the moment they managed to escape from their farm enclosures. After breeding in the wild, the offspring are classed as feral and grow tusks. They also roam over vast distances of up to 19 square miles and sometimes turn nocturnal making them even harder to track...MORE

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How's that for a headline? As usual, a little bit of hyperbole from the UK's Daily Mail.

Mayer blames global warming...

We should have known. This, however, is probably the only way the feral pig problem will ever get addressed. Research would have to show that feral pig farts contribute to global warming. Then we would see headlines like:

Feral Pig Flatulence Furthers Warming

Or:

Wild Pig Windies Worsen Warming

Hog Hunting In The Time Of Coronavirus

John Daniel Davidson

Preparing for a hog hunt is like preparing for the end of the world. You need a reliable rifle and ammunition, of course, but you also need a bunch of other stuff—a sidearm, maps, binoculars, compass, flashlight, knife, raingear, boots, food and water, two-way radios. Once you’re all geared up, you can’t help but think that if the end came, you’d be ready.
The feeling is even more intense when you go hog hunting during a global pandemic. It might not be the apocalypse, but when it comes to buying guns and ammo—or toilet paper—it might as well be.
I know, because I recently went on a hog hunt in East Texas. Hunting feral hogs might not seem like an essential activity during coronavirus lockdowns, but here in Texas it is.
Or at least it isn’t banned. In his March 31 executive order, Gov. Greg Abbott made it clear that hunting and fishing are not prohibited so long as proper measures are taken to prevent the spread of the disease.
Some friends and I had been planning a hog hunt for months, long before the pandemic upended our lives, and as the appointed weekend neared, we decided that if the governor said we could go and the ranch owner still wanted us to come, then we’d throw some face masks and hand sanitizer in our packs and go kill some hogs. Even if we didn’t get any, it would at least get us out of the house to somewhere besides the grocery store and Home Depot.

Yes, People Hunt Feral Hogs

For the uninitiated, hog hunting is hugely popular across the South and especially Texas, which has the largest feral hog population in the country by far, some two million and counting (nationwide, there are between six and nine million feral hogs spread across 39 states).
Last summer, Texas lawmakers unanimously passed a law allowing anyone, resident or not, to hunt feral hogs on private land without a license, year round, with no limits. As far as the state is concerned, hunting feral hogs is pretty much like hunting rats or possums. If you see them, you can kill them.
If that seems harsh, understand that feral hogs aren’t domestic farm pigs. The term “feral hog” refers to hybrids of Eurasian wild boars (introduced to North America by Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century) and domesticated hogs that have escaped and gone feral. With the latter, they actually change physically, growing thick coats of hair and sharp tusks.
They’re an invasive, non-native wild species that’s incredibly destructive and sometimes dangerous. They tear up ranch land, destroy crops, infect livestock with diseases, eat endangered species, and on rare occasions will attack and kill people. In addition, they are incredibly intelligent and difficult to hunt or trap.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE 

 

Texas woman killed by feral hogs in pre-dawn attack

Authorities say a Texas woman found dead on Sunday morning was the victim of a feral hog attack, after the medical examiner's report confirmed their initial fears. Christine Rollins, 59, was discovered outside the Anahuac home of an elderly couple she cared for, after they became concerned that she had not arrived at her usual time. Rollins, a beloved mother and grandmother, was found deceased with a wound to her head — believed to be from a fall — and multiple bite marks on her body that appeared to be from animals of various sizes. During a press conference Monday, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne told reporters that the autopsy confirmed initial fears that Rollins' death was caused by "exanguination due to feral hog assault," the Daily Mail reported. According to CNN, authorities believe "that 'multiple hogs' assaulted Rollins when she arrived at work, likely between 6 and 6:30 a.m., when it was still dark outside." She had exited her vehicle and locked the door behind her when the attack occurred. The sheriff did not give further details, but added, "In my 35 years, I will tell you, it's one of the worse things I've ever seen."...MORE

Feral Hogs Are Tearing Up Texas. So People Are Shooting Them from Helicopters.

The helicopter doors are off, the hunters are in position, and the wild hog is running for its life. The pilot swings the chopper around so it’s just a few feet off the ground. “Clear to fire! Clear to fire!” When the hunters let loose on the hog, they're doing so largely for sport — but they're also helping Texas farmers take out a major pest. Feral hogs became an internet meme in August, when a tweet about shooting 30 to 50 hogs with a semi-automatic rifle went viral. What started as a debate around one of America’s most polarizing topics — assault weapons — became many people’s introduction to a very different problem: Feral hogs are one of the most destructive invasive species in the U.S. But to Texans, feral hogs are nothing new — and they’re no joke. “The problem is extremely serious,” said Olivia Johnson, co-owner and business manager of helicopter outfit Cedar Ridge Aviation in Knox City, Texas. “It would be like if you woke up and there was 3 million rats living in your house. You wouldn't live with them. You wouldn't just say, ‘Oh, well, welcome to my home.’” The hogs are a menace to the environment and agriculture alike, and cause roughly $1.5 billion in damage each year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They tear up crops and property, eat endangered species, and spread diseases to livestock and humans. The USDA estimates there are about 6 million hogs across the U.S., but some experts put the number closer to 9 million. Roughly half of the hogs live in Texas, where people can't kill them quickly enough to manage the population. So in 2011, the state made it legal for helicopter companies to take anyone — even tourists — hunting from the sky. “Helicopter hunting is the quickest way to kill a bunch of pigs," Dustin Johnson, an owner and pilot at Cedar Ridge Aviation, said. Now, companies sell seats to thrill-seeking tourists for as much as $5,000 per person. Cedar Ridge charges about half that, hosting guests from as far as Australia and China. On the day VICE News visited, two hunters from Amarillo, Texas, killed 54 pigs in one go. Overall, helicopter hunting killed 43,000 pigs in the state last year, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. That’s only about 1-2% of Texas’s hog population...MORE

HOG WILD: Farmers, ranchers hope to tackle porcine problem

Several times in the past year, Ray Joy Pfannstiel has awoken to destroyed crop fields. The culprit — feral hogs. These animals have harassed farmers and ranchers across the state, and Pfannstiel’s farm has been no exception “I guess it really started last year to some extent but, this year, it seems to be more frequent,” he said. “There have been more of them throughout (that time). Two years ago, we didn’t have any hogs at our place but last year that changed.” These animals have been a thorn in the side of Texan farmers and ranchers for more than a decade — and are becoming an increasingly difficult problem to solve, Guadalupe County AgriLife extension agent Travis Franke said. “Within the last 15 to 20 years, the populations have really exploded and have gotten out of hand,” he said. “When we get high numbers like we do in some cases, they can cause extreme damage to hayfields. They can also do a lot of damage to our row crop situations. We’ve had a couple of farmers even this year that have planted corn and had to go in there and replant because the hogs come right down the row after them and eat the seeds that they planted.” The feral hogs generally come out after dark, which allows them to cause the most damage, Pfannstiel said. “Our location is by a creek with a lot of brush that they can hide in during the day,” he said. “They have water they can use to keep cool, then come on out at night. For us, within the last two years, it’s gotten really bad.” Feral hogs are responsible for an estimated $52 million of damage to Texas agricultural products each year, Franke said...more

Alberta admits defeat in wild boar bounty hunt cull

A boar war that’s placed a $50 bounty on every ear turned in has yielded about 1,000 proof-of-kills since its start in 2008, says the province. But the results have dwindled, from a high of 199 ears in 2009 to 68 in 2015, leading to its end on March 31, said Perry Abramenko of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. As has happened in other jurisdictions battling the hooved pests, the clever fugitive boars quickly get wise to hunters’ tactics, he added. “If they only catch or kill one, the rest of the group will disperse and go elsewhere — they’re smart enough to know,” said Abramenko. “It hasn’t effectively reduced the population.” Experience has shown that, given the boars’ rapid birth rate, anything less than a quick 70 per cent reduction of a group’s numbers won’t have the desired effect, he said. Because they’re not a natural species in Alberta’s wilds, said Abramenko, “our predators didn’t evolve with them” to control their numbers. They’ve damaged crops, river banks and, through the use of a rigid nose, torn up wilderness areas while rooting for subterranean food. Fugitive porkers have even brought losses to livestock producers, said Abramenko. “They’ve been known to chase cattle away from their feed — ranchers might not even know they have a problem except their cattle’s gotten thin,” he said, adding the shaggy beasts can reach 400 pounds, though rarely...more

Texas ‘Hog Apocalypse’ Poison Put on Hold

A state judge granted a meat company’s temporary restraining order suspending Texas Department of Agriculture emergency rules authorizing use of a warfarin-based poison on feral hogs. Wild Boar Meats sued the state in Travis County Court on March 1. Wild Boar, based in Hubbard, between Dallas and Waco, buys dead wild boar and sells licenses to hunters to kill wild boar and bring the carcasses to its plant for processing. The Department of Agriculture announced its administrative rule change on Feb. 21. It classified the warfarin-based hog bait, Kaput Feral Hog Lure, as a limited-use pesticide. “This solution is long overdue. Wild hogs have caused extensive damage to Texas lands and loss of income for many, many years,” defendant Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said in the announcement. “With the introduction of this first hog lure, the ‘Hog Apocalypse’ may finally be on the horizon.” Miller said the approval of warfarin for feral hog control was a result of 10 years of research by Scimetrics, the maker of Kaput, and the Department of Agriculture. Warfarin is an anticoagulant that was used for many years against feral hogs in Australia. Critics, including the Sierra Club, say wildlife that feeds on the carcass of a poisoned hog could spread the poison through the food chain and environment. Wild Boar Meats says in the lawsuit that the use of warfarin-based poison on feral hogs is not feasible for ranch owners in Texas. “Many property owners want to hunt and consume feral hogs, or lease their land to feral-hog hunters — not poison the feral hogs,” the complaint states. “Many property owners do not like or trust poison or the effects and risks of poison on domestic animals (e.g., dogs, cats), livestock, wildlife, and the environment. Many property owners do not want to incur the expense of a program that is doomed to failure or, at best, minimal, temporary success.” Ranchers will be forced to move livestock from pastures designated for the hog poison, Wild Boar says. The wild hogs must be conditioned to learn how to open the containers with the poison, and this will lead to an influx of hogs from other properties, and the separate pasturing must continue for 90 days after the last use of the poison, according to Kaput’s own instructions. Kaput’s instructions also say that the warfarin poison cannot be used near water sources and that poisoned hogs must be buried. “A poisoned feral hog may well end up on neighboring property, and the property owner may have no idea that a poisoned hog is on the property, much less any program or desire for burial. That would expose the poison-containing carcass to other wildlife, including birds of prey, vultures, coyotes, raccoons, etc. — or even domestic dogs and cats,” Wild Boar says in the complaint...more

Scientists Get Down And Dirty With DNA To Track Wild Pigs

These animals will eat anything, from rows of corn to sea turtle eggs, to baby deer and goats. "People don't realize that wild pigs are voracious predators," says Jack Mayer, a biologist with the Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken, S.C., who has studied wild pigs for 40 years. "They will run down and kill and eat lamb, sheep, goats, calves, domestic chickens." And more. "Pigs will eat humans," says Mayer. "It's been documented in combat, remote area homicide situations and plane crashes. Pigs will go in and feed on human carcasses." They are "opportunistic omnivores," Mayer says. "If they get can their mouth around it and it has a calorie in it, they will eat it."...But the pigs may have met their match. Kelly Williams, a biological science technician at the National Wildlife Research Center, is going high-tech on these hogs. She and her colleagues at the National Wildlife Research Center have recently developed a way to keep tabs on the animals without ever even laying eyes on them. All she needs is a scoop of water. "So, for example, right now in New Mexico the forest service is out collecting water for me," says Williams. "All they have to do is carry around a little Nalgene bottle, scoop up a water sample and ship it back to me." At the end, she gets an answer – "Yes, pigs were here," or "No, they weren't." She then passes the results along to people like Brian Archuleta, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in New Mexico. Archuleta has a goal for the new year: wild pig annihilation. "Total elimination by the last day of September of this year," he says of his goal. Archuleta is not joking...more

Meat production helps offset wild pig problem

Sure, feral hogs cause their share of trouble. But for those who like bacon and pork chops, Texas’ pig problem has a swine solution. “I would say if it’s prepared properly, the taste is almost exactly the same,” said Jason Bond, comparing the meat to domestic pork. The rancher operates a hog station just west of Snyder. Some he traps himself; others he purchases from other trappers. On a good week, 100 pigs will move through his holding pens. In the feral hog business world, Bond is a wholesaler. After brief stays at his Scurry County ranch, it’s time for piggies to go to market. He sells his pigs live to Southern Wild Game, a processing company in the San Antonio area. That next step in the porky chain: “We buy live hogs from all over the state of Texas,” plant manager Rusty Spannagel told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in a phone interview. “I think it’s a way that we can take a product that is actually a problem for farmers and ranchers and make it into something that’s constructive instead of destructive.” A typical day sees between 250 and 400 pigs in the slaughter line. Last year, the company slaughtered 17,000. Southern Wild Game leaves final steps such as grinding and seasoning to its retail market. Most of those customers are in Europe...more

Texas is Losing the War on Feral Hogs - video

More than two decades into Texas' ever escalating war against feral hogs, the wild swine continue gaining ground while Texas and the state's native wildlife, plants and ecosystems lose it. Despite taking millions of casualties - an estimated 750,000-plus feral hogs have been killed each of the past few years in Texas - the non-native pigs have continued their economically and environmentally destructive march across the state, with an estimated 2.6 million of them spread across at least 240 of Texas' 254 counties. Described by some wildlife managers as "four-legged fire ants," Texas' population of economically and environmentally destructive feral hogs has exploded to an estimated at 2.6 million and continues expanding despite hunters annuallly taking 750,000 of the swine.  "It's just getting worse and worse; no matter what we've tried, the hogs just overwhelm us," said Stuart Marcus, manger of the 25,000-acre Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge. "They certainly are having a negative impact on native wildlife and habitat - directly and indirectly." Texas holds, by some estimates, as many as 10 times the number of feral hogs it did barely three decades ago. "The first year this agency began removing feral hogs was 1982. They took 86 pigs that year," said Michael Bodenchuk, state director of the Texas offices of Wildlife Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture branch designated to address human/wildlife conflicts. "In 2011, we removed 24,746. That pretty much tells you how the problem has grown." And it continues growing. "The estimates I've seen are that between 2006 and 2010, Texas' feral hog population grew about 21 percent a year," Bodenchuk said. And that's with Texans taking an estimated 29 percent of the pig population each year. Texas law designates the non-native feral hogs as unprotected, non-game animals and imposes almost no restrictions on when, how or how many of the hogs can be taken. They can be hunted and killed year-round, day or night; shot from aircraft; trapped in pens; attracted by bait; taken in any number. And Texans have responded to the opportunity. Recreational hunters take an estimated 600,000 feral hogs a year, finding the wild swine a challenging hunting quarry and wonderful on the table. Commercial trappers using live-catch pens annually take and sell to wild game processors another 70,000 or so of the pigs. Another 50,000 or more are killed by Texas Wildlife Services and private firms hired by landowners to knock back pig populations damaging crops or property...more

Here's a video of 'helibacon' hog hunting by helicopter:

Feral Hog Problem Growing In Oklahoma

Oklahoma's wild hog population is a million strong, and booming. So many hogs are running loose that they are costing our state a billion and a half dollars a year in agriculture and livestock loses. Now, landowners are fighting back, on the ground and from the air. They're violent, they're often diseased and they can now be found in every one of Oklahoma's 77 counties, according to George Luker, with Langston University. "They're very opportunistic," he said. "They are very aggressive and very smart." Parts of Charlie Coblentz's 6,000-acre farm near Inola were destroyed as corn seedlings were ripped from the ground just a month after planting. "The hog will root and dig up the corn seed and eat the seed at the bottom of the plant," Coblentz said. The Coblentz family has worked the farm for decades, and said the wild hog problem is just about out of control...more

Wildlife Officials: Feral Pigs Threaten New Mexico's Endangered Species

State and federal officials report success in reducing New Mexico's population of feral swine, which threaten endangered species. Alan May, state director at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services Program, said the agency has eliminated more than 700 of the animals statewide since early last year. The pig's populations had been swelling in New Mexico. If left unchecked, May said the pigs will destroy the critical habitat of many endangered species. "We'll lose some of our threatened and endangered species," said May. "We'll lose habitat. Some of our native species won't do quite as well because feral swine are going to outcompete them, especially in riparian wetland areas." According to May, feral swine can have two litters a year, with an many as ten piglets per litter. Adult pigs weigh as much as 300 pounds. May said the pigs also cause extensive property damage and carry parasites and diseases, such as swine brucellosis, which can spread to humans and other wildlife...more

And then there's our favorite enviro group, the Center for Biological Diversity:

Michael Robinson is a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, which does advocacy work for threatened and endangered species in New Mexico. He said his organization fully supports reducing the feral pig population, because of the threat they pose to endangered species."They displace native wildlife," said Robinson. "They impact water, they directly consume some wildlife. And it does seem like the most appropriate uses for wildlife services, for their work." According to Robinson, the center supports the USDA's program of targeting non-native species such as feral pigs, rather than trapping and sometimes killing native species like wolves that may threaten domestic livestock.

Its so simple.  Yes on USDA killing wildlife that threatens endangered species and No on USDA killing wildlife that threatens livestock.  Can't help but wonder where the PETA pigs stand on this.

Researchers look for answers to difficult wild hog issues

For ranchers who struggle with invasive feral hogs tearing up their pastures and possibly spreading diseases, the scientific community is working on the problem. One of those scientists is Australian and wildlife biologist Raoul Boughton, who has been working at Archbold Biological Station in Venus since 2000. Boughton and Archbold are working in conjunction with researchers at the University of Florida to understand the behavior of feral hogs, an invasive species that was probably introduced by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. Boughton, whose official title is program director of disease ecology, and his colleagues placed GPS collars onto 10 sows and 10 boars, then collected and analyzed the data. "We wanted to understand their home range, how far do they go, the intensity of use in their general areas," said Boughton. As many ranchers can attest, feral hogs can be hard to control because they are quite proficient at digging under fences. If ranchers start hunting them in a certain area, the smart pigs simply choose a different path. They are also well-known for digging up pasture areas with their powerful snouts. As a secondary area of study, Boughton and other researchers are looking at the negative effects of these rooting behaviors on grazing areas. A third consideration is how much feed the pigs may be consuming. Using cameras, researchers studied how often feral hogs visited feeding troughs. And they already have some answers: "Of the visits of cattle and swine to molasses, one-fifth of that, or 20 percent, are made by feral swine," Boughton stated. Ranchers might be surprised to learn that one in five visits to their molasses feeding troughs are made by wild pigs and not cows. For a rancher putting out hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of feed per year, that's a lot of stolen food...more

$1M pilot project in NM aims to take out feral pigs

Bill Humphries

Ray Powell

 Using the cover of darkness, feral pigs have learned to outsmart even the most seasoned hunters as they set about on their nightly terrors, rooting up crops and suburban gardens, harassing native wildlife and turning watering holes into pigsties. The invasive porkers have made themselves at home across more than three quarters of the U.S. and are responsible for an estimated $1.5 billion in damages each year. Most worrisome is their ability to learn from each encounter with a frustrated human. Ask anyone who has had a run-in with feral pigs. The conversation always circles back to intelligence. "They're much brighter than I am," said Ray Powell, a veterinarian and New Mexico's land commissioner. "If they had the dexterity, they'd be driving vehicles around. I mean these guys are really smart." Feral pigs have already taken over Texas and are expanding their numbers in other states, but federal and state land managers think they have a chance to tip the balance in New Mexico. They're willing to bet $1 million in federal funds on a yearlong pilot project aimed at eradicating the pigs and using what they learn here to keep them from gaining a foothold elsewhere. A small army of state and federal employees has been trained to stalk, trap and kill New Mexico's feral pigs. Various techniques have been used by wildlife managers and landowners for decades in the fight against feral swine, but the New Mexico team is focusing on determining what combination works best in which circumstances and how effectively helicopters can be to track the pigs across vast landscapes. The wild pig population in the U.S. has ballooned to more than 5 million. In one year alone, federal managers trapped and killed more than 32,000 pigs from 28 states and collected thousands of samples to check for the nearly three dozen diseases feral pigs are capable of carrying and passing on to humans, livestock and other wildlife. New Mexico is embarking on its third straight year of drought, water supplies have dipped to record lows, farmers and ranchers are struggling, and there are now signs of feral swine in 22 of the state's 33 counties. "Here, it's a new problem," said Quay County farmer Donnie Bidegain, who has seen pig numbers in his area grow from zero to nearly 300 over the last two years. "You research, read stuff on the Internet and watch videos of how other guys are trying to do it. It's almost like you have to stalk them for two months before you figure out how they operate." Bidegain has to watch for big potholes left behind by the pigs to keep from damaging his tractor. Nearby, Quay County rancher Bill Humphries said the pigs were responsible for leaving "bomb craters everywhere" along a quarter-mile stretch of road on his family ranch. On other ranches, pigs have learned to break the floats in stock tanks to keep water flowing for their mud baths. Feral pigs are also moving into southeastern New Mexico, where the federal government has been trying to boost the number of sand dune lizards and lesser prairie chickens. Both are on the menu for pigs...more

Looky there, two NM Land Commissioners in the same article.  Former Commissioner Humphries who's ranch is being torn up and current Land Commissioner Powell who is trying to help him and other ag producers across the state.  Powell has also been instrumental in pushing for reasonable alternatives to outright listing of endangered species, so I'm sure the last two sentences are important to him.