Over the past year, there’s been a lot of discussion in Michigan about how to control the spread of feral hogs and wild boar. When I last wrote about it, the State was looking at imposing a total ban on the possession of wild or feral hogs, which would mean a ban on hunting preserves and breeding facilities. Not sure what that would mean for domestic pork farmers when their fences go down, but it looks like the situation is on the front burner now. In this December 9 article from the mlive.com web-news, it looks like legislation is passing, and the State has until July 8 to define any exceptions for game ranches.
Outgoing DNRE Director Becky Humphries signed an order today that will outlaw feral pigs by next July if the state Legislature doesn’t enact a fully-funded regulatory program for commercial pig hunt operations.
Under the mandate, wild pigs would be classified as an invasive species and be illegal to possess.
Humphries is leaving lawmakers with a strong message about feral pigs, which have proven a nuisance when on the loose, chasing people and destroying property.
“Becky said she hopes to see bio-security addressed strongly in legislation,” Department of Natural Resources and Environment spokeswoman Mary Dettloff said.
“She is sending a signal. She wants to make sure the pigs don’t get out of the (pig-hunting ranch) facilities. They pose a serious disease threat and do ecological damage.”
The argument from many sources, including some folks at the MI Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE), is that the majority of the feral hogs in MI are escapees from the preserves. I can’t authoritatively dispute this, of course, but I do question it. I tried researching a little more thoroughly, but there didn’t seem to be a ton of hard evidence outside of some local situations.
From what I’ve seen in other states, feral hogs come from many sources, including illegal traffic by hunters who want to establish huntable populations in their areas. They also come from escaped domestics which go feral pretty quickly. I think this is a bigger part of the problem in Michigan than we’re hearing from more biased sources who appear to be specifically targeting high fence ranches (an admittedly easy target).
At any rate, it’s pretty much up to the hunting ranch operators and MI sportsmen to decide the future of wild boar hunting in their state. I think there are workable solutions to address escaped animals as well as ways to fund necessary enforcement through preserve licensing and fees. I wish you luck.
jason
And we definitely need the luck, Phillip.
I’m completely okay with the ranches, as long as there is some sort of regulation that goes with them. I also completely agree with you that the “sources”, which state the the feral hogs are usually located within a certain range of a high-fenced ranch, are pretty biased from what I’ve read – taking into account the source of course (usually someone from the DNR).
The legislation has their hands full with this one, and, quite honestly, I just don’t think they will reach any resolution, and the high-fenced pig hunting will come to an end….and more Michigan jobs will be lost.
Bummer.