Just read this in my feeds today. A Texas man has been charged with intentionally releasing feral hogs in Wisconsin. The charges stem from a 2002 incident, in which the accused, Robert Scott Johnson, allegedly brought a trailer load of feral hogs from Texas to Wisconsin, and released them into the wild.
Here’s the article from the Houston Chronicle.
Much of the blame for the massive expansion of feral hogs throughout the U.S. has been placed on the doorstep of people importing and releasing the animals in order to create a huntable population in their area. Hogs are prolific breeders and can survive a wide variety of environmental conditions, so once established, they’re hard to control and almost impossible to eradicate.
While I’ve expressed my own doubts about the actual negative impact of feral hogs on habitat and native wildlife, there’s no question that wild swine can do a lot of damage to agricultural interests. Texas, the state with the largest population of feral hogs, estimates annual crop loss and damage at around $52 million, and spends millions of dollars per year on control and eradication efforts… not counting the amount spent by ranchers and farmers out of their own pockets. (There is a flip side in Texas, however, as hog hunters from around the country flock to TX for a taste of wild pork. While hog hunts in TX are relatively inexpensive, the volume of hunters is likely to continue to increase, creating a pretty lucrative industry for the ranchers, outfitters, and property-owners interested in capitalizing on the boom.)
The point is, importing these animals and releasing them uncontrolled into the wild is both environmentally irresponsible and detrimental to our sport. I’ve heard an awful lot of people argue that hunters aren’t to blame for the spread of feral hogs, but cases like this one make it awful hard to defend the ethical majority in our community. The fact is, the practice is a lot more prevalent than many people would like to admit or believe.
Look, I love hog hunting. It’s something of a minor obsession for me, and I think every hunter should have the opportunity to go after these wonderful game animals. But honestly, spreading them across the country, releasing them into wild places where they simply don’t belong… that’s a bad practice. Not only is there potential to damage habitat and native species, there’s also the likelihood that continuing the practice will bring down more draconian laws that make it hard on legal, ethical hunters. You’re going to see more states taking the approach of Kansas and prohibiting the recreational take of feral hogs. You’re also going to see more and more tax money diverted from necessary wildlife management and habitat programs in order to address this newly created problem.
It’s not that expensive to take a long weekend trip to Texas or Florida and hunt the large population of feral hogs (I do not include CA in this list, although we have the second-largest herd of feral hogs in the country, because it’s become ridiculously expensive for a non-resident to hunt hogs here). Head on down and see what it’s all about in a state that already has a “problem” and welcomes the assistance in controlling it. Don’t be part of creating a new problem, both for the State and for hunters.