I received the following in my email last night:

Hello there,

I am one of the producers on the Discovery Channel TV Series, Hogs Gone Wild, and I’m currently looking to film a segment in California, in mid-March.  I’m looking for someone, or a company, such a winery, ranch, farm etc that has had a large or giant boar encounter, and who would care to share the experience on camera.  It has to be a dramatic story with something physical or some livelihood at stake.

I thought you might know of someone like that.  Thank you,

Cordially,

G. Caroselli
Producer
Film Garden Entertainment
6727 Odessa Avenue
Van Nuys, CA. 91406
O: 818.783.3456 (Main)
T: 818.475.6429 (direct)
F: 818.752.8186
E: Gcaroselli@filmgarden.net
Www.filmgarden.tv

I had to give a little thought to how I’d respond to this request.  This isn’t the first time I’ve received this kind of request either, both from Discovery and from National Geographic (another channel that blew it with the wild hog story).  I try to be respectful because I understand that everyone has a job to do, regardless of how I feel about the results of their efforts.  When it comes to television programming, I know it has to be a real challenge to come up with content that will capture the jaded imaginations of the American public. 

At the same time, after watching several episodes of Hogs Gone Wild, I have a hard time, in good conscience, promoting that show in any way.  It’s the worst kind of programming.  It doesn’t just perpetuate myth and misunderstanding… it actually creates it.  Here’s part of the program description from the Discovery Channel.

Each episode documents the perilous challenges and dangerous battles of hog removal experts. The feral hog epidemic now extends into 44 states. Left unchecked, it could become one of America’s greatest environmental catastrophes. Wild hogs are an invasive species that not only threaten homes, farmland, forest and native wildlife, they also present a physical threat to humans, and can spread deadly disease.

With no natural predators, wild boars and sows are notoriously aggressive. Often they will charge and attack a person rather than run. The tusks of a boar extend 2 to 4 inches outside of its mouth, are self-honing to a razor sharpness, and are swung like swords. An encounter with a wild boar can leave a victim bleeding to death or infected with a lethal disease. So our featured trappers need to be as cautious as they are crafty. As one of our team members says, “These aren’t little pen piglets we’re dealing with. They’re big, dangerous and deadly hogs.”

Nothing stirs the imagination like a little reality mingled with a lot of fantasy.  These are the components of any good urban myth… just enough truth to make it believable.  To read the show description would leave some people with the idea that hogs are fierce and aggressive beasts with murderous tendencies.  My god, who will save the children?

A couple of things right off the top.  First, yes, I know that feral hogs can and do upset the ecological balance in certain situations.  However, the damage so far doesn’t appear to be quite as extensive as we’re so often led to believe.  Wild hogs have been roaming the Hawaiian islands (arguably one of the most sensitive ecosystems in the US) for generations.  There are millions of them in Texas, Florida, and California, and yet we haven’t seen massive environmental destruction.  Isolated problems, yes, but “America’s greatest environmental catastrophe?”  I don’t think so.  It’s nothing compared to the scale of destruction due to cattle and sheep ranching or industrialized agriculture.  Where’s the outrage there?

On the other hand, I do believe that wild hogs pose two key threats to agriculture… one from direct crop damage, and two by potentially carrying livestock diseases such as pseudorabies and brucellosis.  They need to be controlled, and in certain cases, exterminated.  Depredation hunting is a necessity to protect agricultural interests, as well as private property concerns. 

However… feral hogs are NOT a realistic threat to humans, any more than deer or racoons.  You want to see ferocious?  Corner a ‘coon in the garage at night.  Same goes for pigs.  Corner a wild hog and you may be in a bad spot.  Otherwise, just like any other prey animal, they’re getting the hell out of Dodge when threatened.  They are NOT predators.  They are NOT going to attack our children on the playground, or eat the farm laborers.

So the program focuses on tales from suburban housewives, terrified by the “killing machines” rototilling their rose bushes and sluicing their sod.  They fear for their kids, for their pets, and for their own lives!  My goodness!  What shall we do?  Or else it’s a farmer or rancher complaining about crop and equipment damage, but even then, they have to throw in some foolishness about how the hogs are also “threatening” or “terrifying” the workers. 

Then the narrator, in dramatic tones, takes us to the professionals who are there to save the day… animal control Supermen (and women) who put their own lives on the line to protect the innocents. 

Except, of course, that they’re really just ordinary people who understand pigs (usually), and know how to handle nuisance animals.  I’m not knocking the trappers on the program, by the way.  They appear to all be skilled professionals doing a very real, and occasionally dangerous job.  For the most part they’re just there, doing their thing, and often having a pretty good time in the process.  No matter how hysterical the narrator may get, the fact that catching and/or killing these hogs is exciting fun comes through. 

Of course the trappers’ commentary often borders on the hyperbolic too.  The pre and post hunt interviews focus on worst-case scenarios, and the adrenaline charged banter during a catch or kill certainly ratchet up the excitement.  But it’s hard to get past the feeling that many of the comments are coached by the producers to enhance the reality of each encounter.  The risk is usually real enough, but it’s often so overplayed as to become a parody of itself. 

And then there’s the footage.  How many times can you see the “evil” glow of light reflected from an animal’s eyes and still feel anything?  What’s worse, is how many times can you see it enhanced with red filters, to make the animals look even more evil?  That’s just stupid… stupid and irrelevant. 

Maybe I just expect too much from television and the viewers.  Maybe real reality just doesn’t sell.  Maybe people don’t want to actually learn from programs on a channel that used to be known for solid, educational content. 

But I know I’ve seen shows about wild hogs done right.  The KQED Quest program did an excellent show on wild hogs in California (and maybe I’m biased because I’m in it… I’ll admit that possibility).  The Pickup Load of Pigs series I linked to a couple of weeks back was a really good look at the situation.   And my favorite, Pig Man, does everything the Discovery program attempts with wild hogs, but does it with humor and realism (although the show has spent a lot of time hunting other stuff lately). 

So there… that was a long way around and I don’t think I left much doubt as to my own opinion of the Discovery Channel program.  Obviously, I don’t have any stories to send them, and if I did, I wouldn’t. 

However, in the sense of fairness, I’ve provided the contact information.  If any of my California readers would like to get in touch with the Hogs Gone Wild producers with a story of their own giant wild boar encounters, just shoot Ms. Caroselli a note.  If you do, however, please share the tale with us here too.  I’d love to read it.  Just make sure it’s dramatic and has “something physical or a livelihood at stake”.

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