My friend John, over at the Western Wanderer blog knows I”ve been trying to keep up with the spread of hogs across the U.S. He was kind enough to send me this heads up from the Capital Press, an online agricultural news source.
You can read the article for yourselves, of course, but in summary, the ID farmers and authorities are concerned about the spread of wild hogs, apparently introduced by hunters (!!!). The concern, of course, stems from the possibility that the swine carry diseases that can be transmitted to the livestock. A single outbreak of brucellosis or pseudorabies can put a rancher out of business… and a major outbreak can shut down the whole region.
I think the concerns over disease are maybe a little overblown, but they are realistic. But what gets me is this part of the report:
In his communications with state and federal agencies, McDonnell said it is believed that hound hunters in the Bruneau Valley imported the Eurasian feral hogs from California, bred them to domestic hogs and released several trailer loads of the offspring in the area last year.
Oakey said officials are still trying to determine how the hogs got here, who is responsible and how many exist. They are also trying to determine which agency will have jurisdiction over the issue. USDA-APHIS and Idaho Fish & Game are also involved.
“We’re putting together a plan we can go to the governor with and show the agencies are working together,” said Idaho State Veterinarian Bill Barton.
The agencies’ first priorities are to determine the validity of reports, the extent of the problem and to put together a management plan to handle the issue, he said.
Charges could be filed in the incident, Oakey said.
I love hog hunting, I truly do. And I can understand how some folks would want to have the experience in their own backyards (relatively). But I can’t get behind the mindset of bringing in a known invasive, non-native species and turning it loose uncontrolled in a new habitat. And yeah, I know that’s been the history behind many popular game species in this country… but most of that happened before folks understood the impacts of these actions.
ID officials don’t think the population has grown very large at this point, but they don’t know the real extent. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if there are a lot more animals than they expect, though. I’m interested in hearing what they do determine, and how they plan to manage the hogs.
Thanks for sending this along, John!
jason
If it was hunters who introduced them into the area, that is simply deplorable.
I wrote a post awhile back that actually talked about hunters importing these hogs in, and I never in a million years would’ve thought someone would do such a thing, especially knowing the impact these swine can have on an ecosystem.
I guess I was wrong. Or it appears that way, anyhow.