Hey hey, time for a new look at porkchops in the news!
OK, so there’s not a lot new to report. I was kind of amazed when I checked the RSS feeds to find that the story about that wild boar in the Barcelona highway is still circulating. That’s how slow the piggie news is right now.
Still, a couple of things are happening. First, Pennsylvania is continuing to try to figure out how to deal with the spread of feral hogs in their countryside. According to this article from the Tribune Democrat, the hogs are showing up in people’s yards, doing what hogs do (devastating the landscape) and breeding happily.
One note from that article really stood out.
Homeowners on Pindleton Ridge and nearby are reporting sightings in the evening, when the hogs come out to feed.
Others are seeing damage caused by the animals’ rooting: They are prone to digging up soil and going after food put out for deer or turkey.
I’m sorry…did that just say the hogs were eating food put out for deer and turkey? So these suburbanites are feeding the wildlife, then complaining because the wildlife is tearing up their shrubbery? Here’s a thought. STOP FEEDING THE WILD ANIMALS!
Hmm… maybe I’ve had a touch too much caffeine today.
Earlier, I posted up the news that pseudorabies had been found in a domestic pig froma Wisconsin farm. As a result, all of the hogs on that farm had to be destroyed. The general concensus is that the disease was brought to the farm by feral hogs.
Well, apparently there’s another case at yet another Wisconsin farm. There were several articles about the situation, but this column from the Green Bay Press takes a look at the big picture.
The columnist, Pat Durkin, says that it’s time the state take a look at many of the current practices that expose wildlife and domestic stock to disease outbreaks, and that they take a pro-active position.
In particular, he targets the practice of baiting and feeding deer… a practice which has been clearly indicated to increase the spread of virulent diseases like CWD and tuberculosis. This is a hot topic in many areas, as Wisconsin is one of the states being hardest hit by the CWD outbreak.
As of right now, there’s no clear evidence that feral pigs were the source of the pseudo-rabies outbreak, and according to the most current articles, there are no other cases in the state. However, as Durkin points out, the time to prevent these problems is before they happen.
Anyway, it looks like while hunters may be cheering the spread of hogs across the country, there’s a downside coming along with it. Stay tuned, and we’ll see what happens next!
