Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Wild Pigs Worldwide Problem

As we have reported in the past, Wild Pigs(Sus scrofa) are an invasive problem at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest.

Today's Washington Post article reports that wild pigs are a major and increasing problem in Pakistan. A quick search on the Internet will reveal that the problem with pigs and habitat destruction is worldwide.

Image SCDNR

What can be done to control the problem? South Carolina's Department of Natural Resources' news release describes the issue and regulations, including recent legislation passed to control the transportation of wild pigs throughout the state.

DNR encourages those who have wild hogs on properties they own or hunt to lethally and legally remove every hog they have the opportunity to remove...Feral pigs have been called by some an "ecological train wreck" and the destructive nature of this invasive species lends itself easily to such a description. All feral pigs share an unbridled appetite and can destroy hundreds of acres of farmland as well as native plants and wildlife habitat in just a few short nights. Free roaming pigs reproduce at a prodigious rate and are capable of producing two litters of up to a dozen piglets a year.

As noted in the Washington Post article, ignoring the problem does not make it go away and in fact as the exact opposite effect!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes it's a state wide problem, but DNR sets seasons and does not allow year round hunting of them on state lands, they are hunted part time and they breed full time, regulations need to be loosened to allow more harvesting by the states hunters.They also set dog hunting for them prior to public hunts that usually cause them to be scarce if still hunters do come to help hunt them.

Paul R said...

Because they will never be stopped,
at least slow them down with a perpetual open hunting season with no limits. Most people are totally unaware ofrom a heli the amount of damage they can do in a short period of time...it is amazing and terriblec at the same time. Have seen videos in Texas of killing feral hogs from helicopters using machine guns...they have a huge hog problem there.

Swampy said...

Here is a link to the SC DNR regulations regarding hog hunting: http://bit.ly/sDwSur