INVASIVE SPECIES -- A pair of feral pigs reported by a bird hunter near Potholes Reservoir were recently killed along the Winchester Wasteway by a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officer. The state has a no-tolerance policy for the non-native species known to be efficiently destructive to native habitats as well as livestock operations.

The source of the animals and how long they'd been roaming the Desert Unit of the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area aren't known, wildlife officials said.

The animals that were killed are described in a department report as a nursing sow and a subadult. That leaves open the possibility that there are more feral pigs out in that section of Grant County, although no pigs have turned up on trail cam images from a bait station officers set up.

The agency encourages sportsmen to report any sightings of feral pigs to the Region 2 office in Ephrata,  (509) 754-4624 or, as Andy Walgamott of Northwest Sportsman calls it, the toll-free "federal squeal-on-a-pig hotline," (888) 268-9219.