Wild Hogs Cause $1.5 Billion in Damages Every Year

Photo byAPHIS

The Feral swine is not a native species in the Americas. In the 1500s, early explorers and settlers brought the hogs as a food source.

Free-range livestock management practices helped establish feral swine populations and escape from enclosures. In the 1900s, the Eurasian wild boar was introduced into the United States for sport hunting.

Today’s feral swine population is a mix of escaped domestic pigs, Eurasian wild boars, and their hybrids.

Photo bySmokey Mountain News

Feral swine looks similar to domestic hogs. They are thinner with thicker hides. They have coarse, bristly hair and long tusks.

Feral swine vary in coat pattern and color, including white, black, brown, and red combinations. This is due to extensive cross-breeding. Piglets are often striped or spotted but lose this coloration as they mature.

Some look like pure Russian or Eurasian wild boars, while others look like domestic pigs. Feral swine should not be confused with the collared peccary (javelina), a native pig-like mammal of the American Southwest which is generally much smaller than feral swine (15-25 lbs.) and silver-grey to black with a defined lighter coloured collar.

Photo bywildpiginfo.msstate.edu

Adult feral hogs average between 75 and 250 pounds and can sometimes be double the size. Boars are larger than sows.

Feral swine are muscular and run up to 30 miles per hour. Feral swine have cloven hooves. Although feral swine tracks look similar to deer tracks, they have blunter-tipped toes. Their tracks are square compared to the pointed heart-shaped tracks of deer.

Wild hogs breed year-round and can have two litters of up to twelve piglets each year. They become sexually mature at six to eight months, and populations have the potential to double in size in four months, making population management critical.

Photo byUSDA Feral Pig Project

Feral hogs travel in family groups called sounders: two or more adult sows and their young. Sounders can vary in size, from a few individuals to as many as 30 members. Adult boars usually live alone and only join a sounder to breed. They are active at night, particularly in hot, humid climates. It may be easiest to identify feral swine in your area by looking for signs of damage.

Various techniques exist for managing the damage caused by feral swine. Not all methods are suitable for every location or situation; often, a combination of methods must be used to ensure success.

Wildlife Services (W.S.) wildlife biologists and field specialists reduce feral swine damage by providing technical assistance to landowners and land managers or conducting direct operational management activities to eliminate or alleviate the damage upon request.

Photo byAPHIS

Successful feral swine damage management strategies employ a diversity of tactics. Factors property owners consider when choosing a management method(s) are overall objectives, landscape, environmental conditions, feral swine behavior and density, local regulations, and available funding.

Nonlethal management techniques can limit disease transmission, crop damage, and livestock loss. However, lethal techniques may be more effective for limiting population growth and achieving long-term damage suppression.

The National Feral Swine Damage Management Program aims to protect agricultural and natural resources, property, animal health, and human health and safety by managing damage caused by feral swine in the United States and its Territories.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, feral hogs are responsible for an estimated $1.5 billion in damages annually across the United States.

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Douglas Pilarski is an award-winning writer & journalist based on the West Coast. He writes about luxury goods, exotic cars, horology, tech, food, lifestyle, equestrian and rodeo, and millionaire travel.

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