Pro And Con Dilemma Over Feral
Hogs Gets Airing At Seminar

DALLAS —(AP)— Hunters are going hog wild over feral pigs in Texas, but many farmers and ranchers would rather see the porkers dead than fed.

Feral, or wild, pigs are a growing problem across the United States. Population estimates run as high as four million pigs, and they live in habitats ranging from forest and dense scrub to swamps and meadows. Biologists estimate that half of the wild pigs live in Texas.

During night feeding forays, wild swine can destroy enough acreage of a peanut or corn crop to ruin a small farmer. Pigs often kill and eat young sheep and goats and can spread disease among other domestic livestock herds.

At a Fort Worth symposium on feral swine recently, East Texas rancher Regan Beck told wildlife experts that he's seen a 20 percent drop in young goats among his herds, which he blamed on attacks by wild pigs living in and around his pastures.

In Florida, residents of new subdivisions complain that dozens of wild pigs frequently tromp into their yards in the early morning, uprooting flower and vegetable gardens. Near San Francisco, feral pigs have chewed hillsides bare of vegetation, accelerating erosion. They drink and swim in reservoirs that supply the city, prompting the public utilities commission to contract the killing of about 300 pigs in the mid-1990s.

Wild pigs weigh up to 250 pounds, but they aren't overstuffed oinkers. Wild pigs are lean, fast and imposing. Standing up to five feet tall, they are covered with bristly hair and a tough, padded hide that serves as an effective armor. Their razor-sharp tusks grow three inches long.

Hunters just love to shoot swine.

A multimillion-dollar industry has grown up around hunting feral pigs in Texas, said Max Coats, of the Austin-based Texas Animal Health Commission. Some landowners set aside areas for the pigs and then charge hunters anywhere from $250 to more than $500 per gun for a weekend of hog hunting.

``Feral swine has become of major economic significance to some,'' said Dale Rollins, a wildlife expert at Texas A&M. ``There's something about hog hunting that's pulling hunters in from all over the country.''

The first pigs in the United States were brought by Polynesians to Hawaii around 1000 A.D. and by the Spanish in the Southeast in the early 16th century. In Texas, they descended from various strains of European wild hogs and domestic swine.

A wild pig typically lives 15-20 years. Females breed year-round, bearing litters of two to 12 piglets.

Federal and state wildlife agencies are working on a solution to the boom in feral swine numbers. Regulations have already been put in place to keep tabs on wild pig slaughtering houses and to stop landowners or outfitters from transporting them to other hunting preserves.

``No single strategy is probably going to work,'' Coats said. ``Feral swine control is going to have to come from a kind of working group of various interests.''