Oh my lord! Gather the women, hide the babies! Wild boar are on the rampage in Pennsylvania! Thankfully, the government is here to help!
Or at least that’s what I got reading this gem of an “informative” article from the York (PA) Daily Record. Here’s the lead:
You have enough to worry about, what with escalating gas prices, global warming, the meltdown of the housing market and Willie Randolph being fired as manager of the New York Mets.
Now, add to that list the prospect of being attacked by roving packs of feral hogs.
I’d like to quote the whole article, but since I don’t have the rights and don’t really feel like contacting the Daily Record to get them, I’ll leave it to you folks to go have a read. I really hope you will.
Those of you who know a little about wild hogs should get a laugh. But temper your hilarity with the fact that this information is being passed to people who DON’T know better… and it’s being sold as the word of “wildlife experts”. That’s not so funny.
As feral hogs (or are they escaped wild boar? These “experts” probably know the difference…. right?) begin to establish a population in the state, the “experts” are rushing out to instill a sense of caution (or is that blind, ravaging fear?) in the general public.
According to Harris Glass, a member of the USDA’s Feral Hog Task Force, while the documented spread of feral hogs in PA has been mostly restricted to five counties (not including York County, where this article is published), “That doesn’t mean we won’t have any in the future.”
And why the concern?
“They are a very invasive species,” said Wendy Looker, naturalist with the Codorus State Park. “They can be very dangerous.”
Dangerous? Oh yes… scary, dangerous, mean, ugly critters! The experts say so, it must be true!
The hogs also pose a threat to humans in that they are very aggressive, can weigh up to 400 pounds and have 9-inch-long tusks.
“They are absolutely fierce,” Looker said.
Excuse me a minute. I just snorted coffee all over my keyboard.
OK, I’m better now.
400 pound hogs with nine-inch tusks!?! Did someone release warthogs in Pennsylvania? And “fierce”…?
OK, I guess if you get your information from Wikipedia or some biology textbook, you’ll find information 
like that. Actually, reports of 600lb boar in places like India, Iran, and Turkey are not unheard of. In the US though, a 400 pound feral is pretty unusual, unless it’s fairly recently escaped/released from the farm. And nine-inch tusks… again, possible but hardly normal, even for the pure-strain wild boar. And sure, someone is gonna reference “Hogzilla” with his 800-1000 pound body weight and 17″ tusks… but sorry, you can’t use an anomaly to define a norm.
So where does reality intersect with inciting panic?
Truth be told, both wild boar and feral pigs (which are NOT the same critters, by the way) can be dangerous and even aggressive. Heck, domestic pigs can downright mess up your day if you’re careless. Regardless of lineage, these animals have the capability with their sheer strength and sharp tusks to be bad news. I have several friends sporting scars and stories from encounters gone bad, but; in every case the injuries resulted from an animal that was either cornered or wounded… often both. “Roving bands” of feral pigs just don’t go out of their way to attack people.
There are cases, particularly near me, where the feral hogs have acclimated to human presence in much the same way as bears have done. They have learned to associate humans with food. In one of our local parks near San Jose, CA, the hogs have actually started crowding people out of picnic spots… apparently drawn by the food, and encouraged by the fact that people will abandon their picnic quite readily at the appearance of these mean-looking creatures. I have no doubt that people are intentionally feeding them too. This is a recipe for trouble, just as it is when any wild animal becomes overly-accustomed to humans and hand-feeding.
It’s also a fact that the real ”wild boar” (eurasian or european boar) can be a little more belligerent and aggressive. It’s likely that many of the hogs in PA (and some other states) are true “Euros”, escaped from game ranches, so reports of “wild boar” in the countryside are factually accurate.
You will hear reports of wild boar attacks on people and pets in places like Russia, Germany, and even (recently) Great Britain. Under investigation, however, most reports of “unprovoked” attacks can be attributed to something out of the ordinary… the victim stumbled onto the pigs and got between them and their escape route, the victim was walking the dog and it got after the pigs, or the fact that the attacker was a sow protecting young. These animals are bad-ass when they do get fired up, so it’s a good thing it seldom happens.
So yeah, in reality folks should be aware that wild boar and feral hogs are in an area, and they should exercise the same caution and situational awareness they would exercise any time they’re in the outdoors. There are much bigger threats to your personal safety than wild pigs, but it never hurts to know a little about them and treat them with the same respect you’d have for any other wild animal. Give them some leeway, don’t treat them like pets or zoo-animals, keep your own pets out of their habitat or under control, and by all means DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE.
But let’s not panic over visions of teeming hordes of big-toothed monster boars coming to eat the kids and disfigure the ladies. That’s simply not realistic by any stretch of the imagination. Articles and fear-mongering like we just read from the USDA and State Park naturalists are little more than attention grabs and sensationalism. It may be well-intentioned, but misinformation is a disservice to the public, and to the hogs too.
Grunter Hunter
pa hunter
flint
Hilarious! I especially love your use of cartoon imagery.
I loved the part of the story where officials were worried that the hogs would become a favorite of hunters. Hello? Worried? Oh no, more revenue from hunting, that’s awful!