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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Out & About: Wild swine an invasive species curse

Feral pigs can be destructive to crops and wildlife habitat. (COURTESY PHOTO / Courtesy)
From staff and wire reports

Feral pigs were quickly targeted last year in Washington by state and federal wildlife officials who closed down a state wildlife area near Moses Lake and used traps, bait stations, aircraft and firearms to eliminate a handful of the loose swine.

Was that an overreaction? No, according to wildlife officials across the country. Take Kansas, for example.

“Last year we removed 609 feral pigs and this year we’ve already removed 440,” said Curran Salter, U.S. Department of Agriculture feral swine biologist for Kansas. Despite the control efforts, the state’s population of feral swine stays around 1,000.

Though that sounds like a lot of problematic wild pork, Oklahoma is being overrun by more 1 million wild pigs.

“It’s moved right up behind Texas, as one of the states with the most (feral) pigs in the country,” Salter said. “That’s not a good distinction to have.”

The pigs Salter, and experts in at least 40 other states and several Canadian provinces, are battling are descendants of domestic swine gone wild. Spanish explorers introduced them to the New World in the 1500s as a food source. Others escaped pens on farms the following centuries. Over the past 30 years, populations have sprung up where feral swine have been brought in from other states, and released by those hoping to establish a population for hunting.

USDA estimates put the national population at 6 million feral pigs. That’s up from an estimate of around 4 million 10 years ago. Texas has about 2.5 million.

National damage estimates start at around $1.5 billion as the animals can destroy large stands of crops, wildlife habitat, lawns and may pass disease along to livestock and humans.

Damage estimates in Kansas have been around $300,000 each of the past three years, said Salter, and mostly from wild pigs rooting in crop or hay fields.

Keeping feral swine from proliferating in other states has become a high-priority for the USDA. Specialists have killed 6,600 feral pigs in Kansas alone.

Hunting feral pigs generates some interest, but it doesn’t do the job, Salter said. Hunters kill a few while scattering many more in different directions so they expand their range and makes them more difficult to control.

Effective traps have been developed in recent years. The dead pigs are buried. Fear of diseases being passed to people, meat spoilage, staff shortages, transportation costs and private property agreements keep the program from sharing the meat with the public.