America’s wild-pig population is growing and spreading. Only six states are “pig free,” and in the last 20 years, the number of wild hogs has more than doubled — now estimated somewhere between 2 million and 6 million.
They are big, dangerous and destructive. They ruin wetlands, yards and cemeteries, they eat crops and they have attacked people.
Scripps Howard News Service reports:
“As wild hog populations spread across the United States, they are establishing permanent populations in more and more parts of the country.
“Research by Jack Mayer, a wild hog expert at the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, has documented and categorized that spread.
“When a wild hog community is large enough, it reaches a critical mass and gains what scientists say is a permanent foothold, Mayer said. Twenty-one states fall into that category of having an ‘established’ hog population.
“When the population is smaller, it can still be removed by hunting and trapping. These 12 states have so called ‘transitional’ or ’emerging’ populations.
“States where a feral hog or two has been reported to be on the loose have the best chance of staying pig free, if the states stay vigilant. Mayer labels these 11 states as having ‘recent releases/escapees.’
“Established wild hog populations:
“Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia.”
Resources
- A state-by-state listing of where the hogs are. In Florida, there might be up to a million of them. In many states, it is in the hundreds of thousands. That’s a lot of hogs.
