The feral hog problem in just NC and SC (They are a problem in many states)

[Are_grits_groceries]

Overview of the Problem
Like most of the United States and at least four Canadian provinces, the State of South Carolina has seen a recent and dramatic increase in the distribution and abundance of wild hogs. The increase in wild hog numbers has led to an increase in the damage these animals cause to natural, agricultural, and developed landscapes.
Recent data suggest a large and growing population of wild hogs (approximately 150,000 individuals). Wild hogs have been reported in every county in the state. Scaling the national annual estimate of economic damage done by wild hogs (Pimentel 2007) to population estimates for South Carolina, the collective yearly cost of agricultural damage and control of these animals alone would conservatively be in the tens of millions of dollars.
Considering the potential impacts wild hogs have on the natural landscape and native species, in addition to the threat wild hogs pose to the state’s livestock industry through the spread of zoonotic diseases, the economic impacts of wild hogs are even higher.
As such, a coordinated, multi-agency, statewide effort must be implemented to effectively control and manage this rapidly emerging issue to a less critical level, with a long-term goal of reducing the threat of wild hogs in the Palmetto State. This white paper introduces a multi-agency proposal to achieve this goal.
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http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/hog/pdf/wildhogwhitepaper.pdf

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Pigs are famous with the public for eating almost anything, famous to hunters as a wily opponent and famous among scientists for an extraordinary reproductive rate. Female pigs can crank out three litters of up to 12 piglets each in 14 months, little ones that themselves begin reproducing within months.

“Everybody talks about rabbits reproducing quickly, but hogs can match or exceed them,” Ray said. “The difference is that hogs have no real predators. That means one sow in two years’ time can create 200 more pigs.”

Danger to domestic pigs
Crop and habitat destruction is the wild pig issue that gets most of the attention nationally, with estimates of the annual damage at $1.5 billion.

Here, though, given North Carolina’s status as one of the nation’s largest producer of hogs, there’s another potential catastrophe: Pork production could be nearly shut down within hours if diseases that have been found in feral pigs here are passed to their domestic cousins.

Ray said the diseases likely wouldn’t be diagnosed until after spreading throughout the national pork industry, via thousands of feeder pigs that North Carolina producers ship daily to producers elsewhere who grow them to market size.
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Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/06/2047423/a-farmers.html

They are everywhere and they are mean and nasty.

[aikoaiko]

1. There is a tasty solution.

But there may be other options too.

[CatWoman]

2. a couple of months ago, here in Georgia

some feral pigs chased some kids away while awaiting the school bus.

Scared them and the parents sh*tless!!!

The kids refused to go to the bus stop until the pigs were caught.

[RiffRandell]

4. I saw that on the news and was just about to post it!

Yep, they are showing up in subdivisions.

[Sunlei]

3. a few people round-up in pipe corral traps, feed/worm them and then have a lot of meat.

Others just shoot them sometimes from helicopters or let dog packs tear them up. They leave the meat. What a waste of a lot of food.

[Gothmog]

5. There are feral pigs in a state park near my home

This is something to be worried about

[hunter]

6. They're horrible here in California.

They really rip stuff up.

I've had a few close encounters with them.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/112721453

Here's a University of California Davis link about the hog problem in California:

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/NEWS/wildpigs-news.html

[Crunchy Frog]

7. The biggest problem is that they keep getting elected to office. n/t