When feral pigs make it into the New York Times, you know they have become a problem. When the NYT editors actually use the word “pest” in that headline, then, game’s on. Now, the rest of the world knows what we’ve known for years. Feral pigs are invading our country and hardly anyone cares. 

We, in the hunting world, have heard about the northern migration and local releases of Porky and his many brothers and sisters by outfitters just trying to make a quick dime. Erica Goode, in the NYT, writes that feral pigs have been sighted in Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania – places where feral pig populations seemed unheard of before now. 

It doesn’t really matter where they came from, because they are here. 

As Goode reports, it’s time to figure out how to eradicate this nuisance. She lists three reasons for a zero or slow response time in the past: no national policy dealing with feral pigs, slowness to see the problem and “bickering between agencies.” 

Not only are there agency disputes, but also, since hunters and outfitters like hog hunting, they put pressure on legislatures to either do nothing, or regulate at a moderate or slow pace. 

Another problem, according to Goode, is the definition of a wild pig, or for that matter, a Russian boar. She writes that shooting preserve owners in Michigan favor a state law that redefines the term “wild animal” to exclude wild boars that are fenced. Again, this tactic appears to be a stalling move – to allow for outfitters to continue with their standard operating procedures. 

A quick search on feral hogs and US Fish & Wildlife Service produced a 2012 Feral Swine Management Report, prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It states, “As feral swine hunting has grown in popularity across the United States so have feral swine populations. Feral swine populate the landscape by escaping from enclosed shooting facilities and intentionally being released into the wild to increase hunting opportunities. The intentional release of swine by hunters and the accidental release of European wild boar from enclosed shooting facilities are the major factors in the increase of feral swine populations across Missouri (Missouri Dept. of Conservation 2012) and New York (USDA 2010).” 

It seems simple enough, really. If the problem is the unethical outfitter, than clamp down on those businesses – regulate and prosecute. Also, states need to aggressively pursue eradication of this nuisance animal. 

Can feral hogs be managed at all? Perhaps that is the only question that really needs to be addressed. The answer – which appears to be no – means states need to allow immediate removal by all means necessary. 

On April 4, four outstanding graduates from the US Fish & Wildlife’s first school for “wildlife detector dogs” left their training grounds and headed for assignments at key ports of entry in this country, along with their human handlers. Viper, Butter, Lander and Locket passed their course that prepares them to find illegal species in shipping boxes – such as elephant ivories and rhino horns. 

According to a press release issued by the USFWS, the dogs and handlers graduated from a 13-week course at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Detector Dog Training Center in Newnan, Ga. At this site, most of the dogs train to identify fruits and plants that house insects and diseases. 

In the release, Law Enforcement Deputy Chief Ed Grace said, “The recent rapid growth in the global trade in protected wildlife is pushing some species perilously close to extinction. Elephant and rhino populations in particular are declining at alarming rates. The battle to stop wildlife smuggling is one we simply cannot afford to lose, and using dogs and their phenomenal sense of smell to catch smugglers will give us a real leg up in this effort.” 

We’ll keep tabs on this topic and let you know how the dogs are doing. We’re interested to see if more canines will be recruited for this task.