Porcine Press – Now Here’s A Different Story
I’ve read and shared an awful lot of stories from around the world regarding the environmental destruction caused by the wild boar and feral hogs. Still though, if you read the reports carefully, folks seem to be most concerned about the possibility of damage and destruction… while there’s often little evidence of the actual incidence. (Yes, the damage to actriculture is very real, but that’s a different story.) Theoretically, of course, some of these fears are feasible, but you have to wonder just how bad these animals are on habitat.
With that in mind, it was refreshing to see this very different story about wild boar in the BBC news.
Rather than being another tale about eradication or displacement, this one is about wild boar being reintroduced into the Caledonian forest in Glen Moriston, Inverness-shire. The hope is that the hogs will control the growth of bracken, which tends to grow quickly in the understory and choke out other plants.
I have to note that the wild boar is native to the area, so the introduction isn’t quite the same as turning hogs loose here in the U.S. It’s likely that the extinction of the wild boar in the area had a lot to do with the overgrowth of bracken, so this is simply the repair of some damages done by man in the first place.
But it does illustrate the possibility that wild hogs may play positive roles in the habitat, and that their appearance in certain areas may not be the ecological kiss of death that some folks would have us believe. As I’ve said before, I think we need a lot more objective research into the impact that wild hogs have. In some cases, a solid management plan may actually be much better for the habitat than continued eradication efforts.
It definitely bears consideration.
Interesting point Phillip. I’ve always told everyone, “feral pigs will be the death of our native species!” Granted I’ve only got a few personal observations and have no real ‘data’ or idea what their affect on the environment has been. Seeing what a feral pig can do to the under story in an old growth cypress bottom, long leaf pine savanna, or on top of an oak ridge is mind blowing. Does this damage equate to less than optimal habitat for native species? Or does it promote 1st succession growth that our whitetail deer, turkey, quail, rabbit, and other ‘game’ species thrive in? Don’t forget the migrant non-game species that make our forays into the woods worth the trip during seasonal changes.
December 7th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
It is definitely interesting to see a story where they are purposely introducing wild boars into an area. All of us in the U.S are accustomed to wild pigs being the beginning of the end for any habitat they inhabit. But with this story, it’s a completely different take.
Very interesting.
December 7th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
In the proper and balanced numbers Wild Hogs are not as destructive as one would be led to believe by entity’s wanting to protect their job’s at eradicating them.
**Read local (Santa Clara County) rancher and author: George Work’s dissertation on the subject!
And you have personal knowledge of this yourself Phillip by how many quail (ground nesting birds) are out at the N.H. ranches.
Despite the fact that the ranches are crawling with pig’s!
December 8th, 2009 at 4:16 am
P.S. It is those damned Lion’s that are wreaking havoc on the Deer population’s and upsetting a proper balance!
December 8th, 2009 at 4:18 am
Good points all!
CRig, you’ve got some good questions there. I’d like to see some solid, objective research to find the real answers. Somehow, I think we’ll find that a lot of the impacts feral hogs have on the native habitat are actually positive. Rooting, for example, is nothing more than disrupting soil and ground cover.
As Michael points out, the Native Hunt ranches are loaded with hogs, yet the quail populations are booming.
Oh, and an interesting point about the lions… Michael, did you know the DFG and UC Davis are investigating the theory that the pigs are causing a boom in the population of mountain lions, which are, in turn, decimating the deer populations? That’s just about the craziest damned theory I’ve ever heard!
December 8th, 2009 at 8:13 am
My favorite quarry is always getting a bad rap.
Look at Tejon. It’s grasslands is lush year-round and invariably green in spring. I have no doubt that its being helped by the pigs aerating the soil by its rooting.
No doubt the pigs will wreck havoc on plants in any agricultural area. But that’s more the exception than the rule and certainly it is not without solution.
December 8th, 2009 at 10:46 am
I’m with Beastslayer, there is damage no doubt but I think they do more good than harm in the long run if kept at a decent population. Enter the hunters who take care of that. Here they eat the likikoi (passion fruit) and guava and spread the seeds around.
They’ve been here as long as I have and it is the human pushing back the wild lands just like it is everywhere else.
I’ve found my conservationist self in the unlikely situation of cheering the hunters on because our wild darlings are not indigenous. That’s how I justify it. Besides, the cruelty to the pork population comes from the State who sends people in to snare them! Those bastards!
I’m all for quick, fast, cook ‘em and eat ‘em. No harm no foul. No cruelty, just exercise for the hunters and their dogs.
So glad I found this blog!
December 8th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Glad you found the blog too, Evelyn. Welcome!
From the sounds of things, you’re in Hawaii? The Hawaiians have a thousand years or so of history with pigs in the islands now (long enough that they’ve become part of the Island mythology), and while they have been blamed (rightly or not) for some serious environmental damage there, they’ve also not proven to be quite eco-apocalyptic either.
The real damage to most of this country, and to the islands, is, as Evelyn points out, “the human pushing back the wild lands.”
If anyone wants to point a finger at a non-native, invasive species, they need look no further than sheep or cattle. For sheer destruction of watersheds, native plants, and displacement of native species, nothing has done as much as livestock. This isn’t a general slam on ranchers or herders by the way, just a point of fact.
The other non-native invasive, of course, is man, but that’s another story altogether.
I don’t know that there’s anything unlikely about conservationists cheering on the hunters, though. Generally, we really do have the same end goals… although our methods and rationale may vary.
December 8th, 2009 at 5:19 pm