Texas feral hog population outnumbers people in most cities
Hog Wild in TexasWith an estimated 1.5 million in Texas alone, feral hogs surpass all Texas city populations, except Houston, for state bragging rights, said wildlife and fisheries specialist Dr. Billy Higginbotham at a Texas A&M University extension center in Overton.
But don't think of Babe, the pink farm pig who talked his way through two feature films. These dark and furry hogs are known to nearly every Texas county, except the extreme western portions of the state, and are notorious for tearing up land, destroying crops and causing land erosion.
"They're kind of a pest," said Drew Ryser, a hunter. "They tear up the ground; the underbrush is torn up and they breed like crazy."
Nationwide, Higginbotham estimates the feral hog population at more than 2 million, but said the exact population is impossible to track.
"We simply do not have an accurate means to count them and therefore these estimates are just that--estimates," he said.
The Wildlife and Fisheries Science Department (WFSD) attempts to track the population through their own trapping, and notes the number captured has more than doubled since 1998, said Dr. Neil Wilkins, an associate professor and extension specialist with WFSD at Texas A&M. Wilkins is worried that the rapid increase in population could lead to more serious consequences than just land erosion.
"The secondary and possibly most damaging concern is disease transmission," he said. "Feral hogs are a likely transmission source for foreign animal disease, like foot and mouth disease, that if introduced into the [human] population, would probably be intractable. In other words, we would not be able to retrieve that."
Wilkins hopes increased education in how to effectively control the feral hog population will limit the potential risk of both disease and land erosion. This leaves residents with the difficult task of controlling an undocumented, but certainly increasing, population.
Hog genealogy
First introduced to Texas 300 to 400 years ago by Spanish explorers, the old-world hog species are considered unprotected exotic animals in the United States, said Higginbotham."[Today, they] can either be European wild hogs, feral (wild) hogs or a product of the first two's crosses," he said.
According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's (TPWD's) publication, The Feral Hog in Texas, the wild animals trampling throughout Texas resemble domestic hogs and can weigh from 100 to more than 300 pounds.
"They're not nearly as cute as farm pigs, though," said Rebecca Leblanc, an East Texas native. "They are covered in coarse black hair that is ... sometimes white and black. The most daunting thing about feral hogs though is their tusk; they could tear a man to shreds."
The four tusks in a hog's mouth are constantly sharpened by use as an animal forages for food. Known for their poor eyesight, feral hogs are largely nocturnal in nature and rely on a sensitive nose and a sharp ear.
They can be found statewide in various habitats but prefer bottomland areas along creeks, rivers and drainages, as well as areas with dense vegetation, Higginbotham said. In these areas, feral hogs can cause erosion by wallowing, or rolling around continuously, creating large mud puddles that destroy creeks and ponds. Along with their tusks, the wild hogs also use their noses to root and destroy valuable land while looking for food.
"They feed on grasses, shrubs, browse, roots, tubers, wild fruits and berries, acorns and agronomic crops such as corn, milo, wheat, rice, peanuts and potatoes," Higginbotham said. "They particularly like grubs and earthworms."
Feral hogs also feed on small reptiles, birds, mammals and even dead animals.
Stampede
Known to trample anything and everything in their way, a WFSD survey of more than 775 landowners reported average property damage of $7,515 incurred since hogs first appeared on their property, said Wilkins.The survey also indicated a solid and steady increase in hog population.
"[Of the 775 landowners], over 80 percent reported they had feral hogs on their property," Wilkins said. "Seventy-one percent of those have observed an increase in feral hog numbers on their land; only 5 percent reported that their numbers were decreasing."
There are few ways to limit the damage caused by the hogs, said Wilkins.
"There's no such thing as a hog-proof fence," he said. "There's hog-resistant, but that's about it. But it can help control [the population] when you combine that with hunting and trapping."
Leblanc and her family lease 700 acres of land each year in East Texas for hunting white-tailed deer and don't usually hunt the pesky hogs, but find they're hunting more feral hogs to ease the dramatic impact on other animals on the property.
"The number of hogs on our lease has become staggering," Leblanc said. "They chase other wildlife away, like white-tailed deer and other non-aggressive animals."
Hogs travel in packs called sounders, consisting of mainly females and their offspring. The male hog, or boar, travels alone, only joining with sounders to breed. According to TPWD, female hogs are physically mature and able to breed after six months, with a pregnancy lasting nearly four months.
"Although sows can have multiple litters in one year, one litter with four to six piglets per year is common," Higginbotham said. "However, since their young can reach breeding condition at less than one year of age, the fact that offspring are having offspring in about one year can lead to substantial population increases."
Feral hogs are also carriers of various diseases, including swine brucellosis, pseudorabies and foot-and-mouth disease. According to Texas Natural Resource Server, swine brucellosis can cause crippling arthritis, meningitis and severe flu-like symptoms in humans, while foot-and-mouth disease is linked to mad cow disease. Humans are resistant to pseudorabies but can be carriers. Higginbotham strongly urges hunters to wear latex gloves at all times when field dressing an animal.
Wilkins said the state does have a foreign animal disease task force working on what a rapid response should be if there's a disease outbreak, but adds that the response is not well known due to a lack of information about the species.
"We don't have good information and good data on the rate of contact of feral hogs and domestic livestock," he said. "Nor do we have the best information on how to eliminate or reduce feral hog population were we to get a feral hog disease outbreak."
Ideally, Wilkins said he would like to start an educational campaign to teach the more than 230,000 ranchers and farmers throughout the state the most cost-efficient and effective methods of containing the hog population.
Not fish in a barrel
Since TPWD doesn't consider the wild hogs to be wildlife, by legal definition, there is no limit to how many a hunter can catch or kill. Because there is no state limit, officials don't know the economic impact of hog hunting. Hunters must still possess a valid Texas hunting license, as well as permission from owners to hunt hogs on private property.In an effort to control the population, wildlife officials encourage hunters to use guns, dogs or baited traps.
"Hunting and trapping, plain and simple consistent, hard effort end up being the best way to control the population and prevent damage," Wilkins said. "We don't have good registered toxicants for the species, nor do we have anything that's widely available as contraception to basically handle this through non-lethal methods."
Ryser prefers to hunt feral hogs versus other game animals due to the increased challenge the animals pose.
"I've gone deer hunting but won't do that again in Texas," he said. "It's like shooting fish in a barrel. They [feral hogs] are more challenging, and you don't go out there for a sense of hunt. If you don't shoot them, they can chase you back and do a lot of damage."
Despite being declared a public nuisance by the WFSD survey, Ryser said there is one good thing about feral pigs.
"They taste good," he said. "It's just kind of pork with a little gamier flavor."
Ann Holdsworth
