North Carolina lawmakers with the passing of house bill 432 have eliminated the game animal classification for wild boar in the state. What has been some crazy laws that recognized hogs as a game animal in 6 mountain counties and feral pests in the other 94 counties has been corrected to reflect the true problematic pests these critters can become. Starting on October 1st all wild hogs in North Carolina will be considered feral and can be hunted year round.
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The new law was enacted in part to address the proliferation of feral swine across the landscape of North Carolina. Feral swine are not native to North Carolina, and pose threats to commercial hog farming operations and native wildlife through disease transmission and habitat destruction.
One such disease is brucellosis, which can infect people if they come in contact, through their eyes, nose, mouth or a skin cut, with infected blood, fluid or tissues from an infected wild hog. People also can become sick after eating improperly cooked meat.
Currently, surveillance testing for brucellosis in feral swine in North Carolina is quite limited. However, in areas where surveillance has occurred, rates of brucellosis have been increasing for the past three years.
NCWRC
In addition to address the double standards of dealing with wild hogs this bill also cleans up a number of other issues or at least gives the NCWRC the authority to change some things if they wish.
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HB 432 also states that the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission may adopt rules prescribing seasons and the manner of taking wild animals and birds with the use of artificial light and electronic calls. It also states that hunters can take rabbits, squirrels, opossum, raccoons, fur-bearing animals, and nongame animals and birds open to hunting, with a pistol of any size.
Hopefully this will open the door for coyote hunting at night and a few other things that would help get a better control on some of the predators in the state.
