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posted by janrinok on Thursday March 23 2023, @09:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the hog dept.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/feral-hogs-are-the-invasive-menace-youve-never-thought-about/

Think of the worst invasive species you know. Kudzu: smothering trees and houses, growing a foot a day. Burmese pythons: stripping the Everglades of small animals. Asian carp: hoovering streams clean of plankton and swimming toward the Great Lakes.

They all came from somewhere else, arrived with no natural predators, outcompeted local flora and fauna, and took over whole ecosystems. But they all have their limitations: Kudzu dies in a hard freeze, carp can't tolerate salt water, and pythons can't cover long distances very fast. (Thankfully.)

Now imagine a species with all those benefits—foreign origin, no enemies—and no roadblocks to dominance: One that is indifferent to temperature, comfortable in many landscapes, able to run a lot faster than you, and muscular enough to leave a big dent in your car. That describes any of the possibly 6 million feral hogs in the United States, the most intractable invasives that most people have never heard of.
[...]
USDA research estimates that, on their own, hog populations will expand their range by about 4 to 8 miles per year. But Mayer jokes darkly that they have relocated at "about 70 miles per hour—which is the speed of the pickups taking them down the highway."
[...]
This story originally appeared on wired.com.


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  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by Thexalon on Thursday March 23 2023, @11:10AM (6 children)

    by Thexalon (636) on Thursday March 23 2023, @11:10AM (#1297717)

    Why bother raising pigs in feedlots when we can eat those tasty tasty feral hogs?

    (Unfortunately, RTFA, this has been tried, apparently, and it doesn't help because of asshats more interested in bounty payouts than solving a problem.)

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Thursday March 23 2023, @02:06PM (2 children)

      by Freeman (732) on Thursday March 23 2023, @02:06PM (#1297743) Journal

      Not even necessarily bounty payouts. Just wanting to be able to hunt them without restriction, so people helped them spread . . .

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday March 23 2023, @03:03PM

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday March 23 2023, @03:03PM (#1297758)

        There are "guides" in Florida who will take hunters out for wild boar, it's a pretty cheap date - as guided hunting expeditions go.

        We had 20 acres with 1/2 mile of grass road through it - mostly oaks and thick old saw palmetto [ufl.edu] coverage. In 20 years, the hogs only tore up the road twice, and then only about 500 square feet of it per session. They dig for "mast" basically acorns that get buried in the sod, and it roughs up the sod pretty thoroughly, takes a couple of years to smooth out again.

        The biggest problem with feral hogs in our neighborhood are boys and young men trying to prove their manliness by challenging them, not exactly alligator wrestling style, but the young men think they can stand off the boar / scare it away, which works most of the time, but once in a while the boar isn't in the mood and it gores the tough guy, bullfight style.

        While visiting a friend in Schaffhausen - north of Zurich on the border with Germany, I was served some suspiciously dry steak with butter on top. After the meal he revealed that was wild boar from his last hunting trip in the black forest. Like most hunting, black forest boar hunting basically consists of climbing a tree and waiting (quietly, for hours in the cold) for the target to come by, then shooting it with a rifle. Hardly seems like sport to me, but apparently a lot of people enjoy it. My father was in a 50mph head-on collision SUV vs pickup truck, shattered his femur, months of recovery and years of rehab in north Georgia (US). Doctor said that his was a very familiar injury, more commonly obtained by hunters falling out of trees.

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by krishnoid on Thursday March 23 2023, @08:39PM

        by krishnoid (1156) on Thursday March 23 2023, @08:39PM (#1297821)

        See, this is the former vice presidential candidate [slate.com] this country needs, and probably also the one it deserves. Think about her broadcasting her campaign advertisements from a helicopter while targeting invasive species, I bet that would get her elected, no sweat.

    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday March 23 2023, @03:52PM

      by Freeman (732) on Thursday March 23 2023, @03:52PM (#1297764) Journal

      Also, another comment noted how they had a "dry steak" that turned out to be wild boar. Usually wild game is a lot more lean and as a result, much easier to be "dry" when cooked. In-laws got some venison (modern term, specifically deer meat) from a friend and I learned a bit about wild game. Not that I wanted or ate any.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday March 23 2023, @05:22PM

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday March 23 2023, @05:22PM (#1297783) Journal

      I work with some folks in TX and they do hunt and eat the feral hogs.

      The biologists in the article don't think it helps much, though.

    • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday March 24 2023, @02:42AM

      by Reziac (2489) on Friday March 24 2023, @02:42AM (#1297902) Homepage

      Feral hogs may be tasty but carry so many parasites, some of which survive cooking, that eating 'em is not really a good idea.

      Texas has an open season, anyone can hunt feral hogs, but it's a difficult hunt and all you get for your trouble is a hog carcass someone has to dispose of.

      Fortunately the common type of feral hog is not adapted to winter conditions.
      Unfortunately there is now a new variety invading from Canada.
      https://www.worldtribune.com/report-hybrid-super-pigs-let-loose-in-canada-are-now-invading-the-u-s/ [worldtribune.com]

      I expect my state will put a bounty on them and a few starving students will take it on as a summer job.

      --
      And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
  • (Score: 2) by aim on Thursday March 23 2023, @11:17AM (2 children)

    by aim (6322) on Thursday March 23 2023, @11:17AM (#1297719)

    I guess Neal Stephenson was right (again) in his Termination Shock. From what I hear, here in the middle of Europe, a major duty for hunters is precisely population control of wild hogs.

    • (Score: 2) by quietus on Thursday March 23 2023, @03:46PM (1 child)

      by quietus (6328) on Thursday March 23 2023, @03:46PM (#1297763) Journal

      Duty eh?

      A few years back, wild hogs were such a plague around here that government organized a large scale extermination campaign. Everybody with a hunting license was called up, the dogs were released, and off they went. End result: nill hogs shot, 3 or 4 hunters hurt, with at least one by friendly fire. The hogs clearly had outsmarted the hunters, was the explanation given in the media, whose members probably couldn't identify a hog if it was running circles around them wearing a t-shirt with 'I am a hog' written on it.

      A few weeks before Christmas though, hunting clubs declared they wanted to give it another try and lo and behold, it became a mass slaughter (of hogs, not hunters).

      In case you don't get the gist: those wild hogs are really put out there by the hunters themselves, and (pricey) wild hog steak fills the shelves in the supermarkets during the Christmas period.

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by krishnoid on Thursday March 23 2023, @08:41PM

        by krishnoid (1156) on Thursday March 23 2023, @08:41PM (#1297822)

        whose members probably couldn't identify a hog if it was running circles around them wearing a t-shirt with 'I am a hog' written on it.

        I'm just going to leave this here [bbc.com], considering it was probably more a matter of confusion than anything else.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Thursday March 23 2023, @11:59AM (5 children)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Thursday March 23 2023, @11:59AM (#1297722) Journal

    Some time ago I read an article in some ag magazine about this. Said there were 2 kinds of people in Texas: those who have a feral hog problem, and those who will have a feral hog problem. However, as far as I've heard, the hogs still haven't managed to move into cities.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 23 2023, @01:49PM (2 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 23 2023, @01:49PM (#1297732) Journal

      the hogs still haven't managed to move into cities.>

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/30/boar-wars-how-wild-hogs-are-trashing-european-cities [theguardian.com]

      Caveat: Our wild hogs are not precisely the same wild hogs that Europe deals with. But hogs can and will move into the cities, if they find that there is food in the cities.

      I've seen first hand how destructive hogs are. Estimate 15 to 20 hogs moving into a huge corn field. If the hogs ate their fill, and moved on, it would be a little costly to the farmer. But the hogs make a game of tearing down the corn, and they'll destroy enough corn plants to feed hundreds of hogs. Further, they root up the area, making it hazardous to operate the super-expensive John Deere equipment used for harvesting.

      Where I live, we have a hog problem, but it's not yet a serious problem, like they have in parts of Texas.

      For anyone interested in graphics, Youtube is filled with hog hunt videos, where dozens, scores, and sometimes hundreds of hogs are killed. Just do a search for 'hog hunt' or 'feral hog' or whatever.

      • (Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 23 2023, @01:50PM (1 child)

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 23 2023, @01:50PM (#1297734) Journal

        Should have previewed my post - didn't close the quote properly!

        • (Score: 5, Funny) by choose another one on Thursday March 23 2023, @01:56PM

          by choose another one (515) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 23 2023, @01:56PM (#1297738)

          Pretty sure that somewhere in slashcode there is a line of code that occaisionally/randomly deletes closing tags if you've posted too many times without previewing.

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by Freeman on Thursday March 23 2023, @02:09PM (1 child)

      by Freeman (732) on Thursday March 23 2023, @02:09PM (#1297744) Journal

      From what I last heard on the subject, they're still mostly stuck in east Texas. I didn't really read a whole lot of the article / source materials. I first heard about the feral hog issue from someone who was going to go hunt some. To be able to reliably take out a feral hog, you need a serious weapon. You'll generally just piss it off with a .22 and you really don't want to piss off a 400lb hog with tusks and an attitude.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday March 23 2023, @03:06PM

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday March 23 2023, @03:06PM (#1297759)

        Wild boar don't seem like a good match for the desert. I mean, maybe they could make a living out there, but why bother when there are greener forests available (and their boar competition is kept down by hunters...)

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 3, Touché) by GloomMower on Thursday March 23 2023, @01:35PM (13 children)

    by GloomMower (17961) on Thursday March 23 2023, @01:35PM (#1297730)

    Just need more mountain lions :)

    • (Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 23 2023, @01:53PM (12 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 23 2023, @01:53PM (#1297735) Journal

      A mountain lion is only going to take a solitary hog - and a young hog at that. Few predators are going to mess with either a healthy boar or sow, because the risk of injury is so high. Even domestic hogs can be dangerous to handle, wild hogs are orders of magnitude more dangerous.

      • (Score: 5, Funny) by Freeman on Thursday March 23 2023, @02:10PM (7 children)

        by Freeman (732) on Thursday March 23 2023, @02:10PM (#1297746) Journal

        Where are the Velociraptors when you need them?

        --
        Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
        • (Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 23 2023, @02:30PM (1 child)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 23 2023, @02:30PM (#1297747) Journal

          If I'm to believe my grandson, they are coming back. He sees them in the woods pretty frequently. :^)

          • (Score: 3, Informative) by Gaaark on Thursday March 23 2023, @02:45PM

            by Gaaark (41) on Thursday March 23 2023, @02:45PM (#1297753) Journal

            Better watch out: i heard that the girl velociraptors are clever! :)

            --
            --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
        • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday March 23 2023, @05:24PM (2 children)

          by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday March 23 2023, @05:24PM (#1297785) Journal

          Do you want feral velociraptors 'cause that's how you get feral velociraptors!

          • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Thursday March 23 2023, @05:34PM (1 child)

            by Freeman (732) on Thursday March 23 2023, @05:34PM (#1297788) Journal

            One problem at a time! We can't have invasive Velociraptors without having Velociraptors.

            --
            Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
            • (Score: 3, Touché) by krishnoid on Thursday March 23 2023, @08:42PM

              by krishnoid (1156) on Thursday March 23 2023, @08:42PM (#1297824)

              And just like that, the next Jurassic Park sequel writes itself.

        • (Score: 3, Touché) by ChrisMaple on Thursday March 23 2023, @09:32PM (1 child)

          by ChrisMaple (6964) on Thursday March 23 2023, @09:32PM (#1297831)

          Hollywood exaggerates. Velociraptors topped out at about 20 kg. Wolves and cougars are both substantially larger.

          • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday March 24 2023, @01:36PM

            by Freeman (732) on Friday March 24 2023, @01:36PM (#1297949) Journal

            You are correct. Though I think, during production the Utahraptor was found, which looks a lot more like the Jurassic Park Velociraptors, er vice versa. The Utahraptor also nearly became the Utahraptor spielbergi. https://www.inverse.com/culture/spielberg-raptor-jurassic-park [inverse.com]

            --
            Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 2) by GloomMower on Thursday March 23 2023, @05:02PM (2 children)

        by GloomMower (17961) on Thursday March 23 2023, @05:02PM (#1297777)

        Ahh, I was reading mountain lions take down adult hogs. Anyway was kind of a joke because a lot of humans don't seem to like mountain lions.

        • (Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 23 2023, @10:47PM (1 child)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 23 2023, @10:47PM (#1297851) Journal

          The joke part is noted. ;^)

          As a sort of general rule, predators don't like to mess with anything, unless it's a sure thing, or very nearly a sure thing. They instinctively understand that there are no doctors, no hospitals, no medical plans for them. If they're injured in a fight, they're probably going to go hungry for awhile, maybe get an infection, and possibly starve before they can hunt again.

          Can a mountain lion take down a healthy adult hog? Probably. But that damned hog has weapons of his own, and he's no herbivore. I think that in most cases where an aggressive hog comes at a mountain lion, the cat will avoid the fight. An injured or sick hog, the cat will most likely win the fight, and may choose to do so.

          The real problem with hogs is, they tend to stay in groups. If the cat goes for the easy pickings, a small, young, weak pig, the cat will most likely have to deal with Mama sow, and any number of other hogs.

          I think that a cat with porn on the menu is going to have to dash in, grab a pig, dash out, and take refuge in a tree. And, don't you know, hogs are hard to sneak up on!

          It's risky business, no matter how you look at it.

          • (Score: 3, Funny) by Joe Desertrat on Friday March 24 2023, @04:47PM

            by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Friday March 24 2023, @04:47PM (#1297997)

            I think that a cat with porn on the menu is going to have to dash in, grab a pig, dash out, and take refuge in a tree.

            Treading onto weird ground here.

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Reziac on Friday March 24 2023, @02:50AM

        by Reziac (2489) on Friday March 24 2023, @02:50AM (#1297904) Homepage

        Some idiot below one of the hog hunting videos said we should populate the problem areas with wolves to control feral hogs.

        Wolves, not being entirely stupid, are going to hunt hogs only as a last resort, and likewise only the occasional young one. They'll hunt your kids before they'll hunt adult hogs.

        People who've only seen cute piglets and maybe slaughter-age pigs have zero idea how big, fast, mean, and dangerous these critters can get.

        --
        And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by Gaaark on Thursday March 23 2023, @02:46PM (1 child)

    by Gaaark (41) on Thursday March 23 2023, @02:46PM (#1297754) Journal

    Hog Jesus will feed the masses!

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday March 23 2023, @03:10PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday March 23 2023, @03:10PM (#1297760)

      As I understand it, the Spanish imported wild boar to the new world as a source of food. So, in a very real sense, their missionary missions brought hogs and Jesus (not to mention Small Pox) to the indigenous.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 5, Informative) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday March 23 2023, @04:45PM (16 children)

    by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 23 2023, @04:45PM (#1297771) Journal

    We have these here in Tennessee and I have some experience with them.

    First, about the pigs themselves. They are usually hybrids between wild pigs and escaped domestic hogs. They have hybrid vigor from the mixed bloodlines and are stronger and faster than their predecessors. The domesticated pig genetics mean they reproduce very rapidly. They have less than stellar eyesight, a sense of smell that would put a bloodhound to shame, and they are incredibly smart. They are significantly smarter than dogs, with much better memories.

    Here in Tennessee we allowed unrestricted hunting of them (like we do most invasive species). That turned into a shit-show because people were catching them and moving them so they could hunt hogs on their lands. That's shut down now and you can only hunt or trap them if you have a hog elimination plan.

    Hunting them is hard. They are nocturnal and their fantastic sense of smell means it's difficult to get the drop on them even with NVGs. Older males, Boars, develop very thick skin and have thick skulls that can deflect small caliber rifle fire. Trapping them works, but if one gets out of a trap they'll never approach it *or similar* traps again and there is some evidence they communicate that information to peers. The best traps are large fenced pens where the panels are above the hog's line of sight, then the panels slide down trapping (hopefully) the entire herd in one go. Large wire snares work for picking off single animals, but they can break 1/8" cable if it's rigidly attached to a tree or post. The best snare I've seen uses a modified wolf foot hold spring trap to trigger the snare. The spring trap doesn't actually hold the hog, but instead it releases a spring-loaded wire snare that catches the hog's leg. The springs and swivels prevents the animal from breaking the wire before they can be killed.

    A large herd can root up acres (plural) of corn or soybeans in one night. They are a real problem for agriculture.

    • (Score: 2, Troll) by JoeMerchant on Thursday March 23 2023, @05:08PM (1 child)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday March 23 2023, @05:08PM (#1297778)

      >if one gets out of a trap they'll never approach it *or similar* traps again and there is some evidence they communicate that information to peers.

      We had a "problem raccoon" that was coming around our front and back doors in the daytime, generally acting unafraid of humans, etc. Would see it every day or two for a week or so, then not at all for a few weeks, then he'd be back... this went on for several months. Not sure if rabies was involved or not, seemed possible. Bought a Hav-a-hart trap and put it out, first open but unarmed with some peanut butter for bait, then after that got taken a couple of times we armed the door. About a week later something (seems likely it was our raccoon) was trapped and made a hell of an effort shredding all the plastic that was on top of the trap to keep rain out of the bait, then bent a heavy pin to let itself out the removal door. Looked like raccoon poo (mostly berries) all over the trap floor.

      Never saw that, or any other, raccoon again, day or night, for over a year now. We just leave the trap where it was, no bait, doors shut - just in case it's helping. (Leaf blowered the poo into the nearby hedge row soil.)

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Friday March 24 2023, @01:41PM

        by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Friday March 24 2023, @01:41PM (#1297951) Journal

        Raccoons are smart critters too. Watching them think through problems and manipulate objects with their tiny little lands triggers my anthropomorphism sufficiently that they are in the "friends not food" category. I still have some raccoon hides and will eat the meat, but only roadkill or unintentional bycatch from other traps that can't be released.

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Bean Dip on Thursday March 23 2023, @06:51PM (5 children)

      by Bean Dip (5604) on Thursday March 23 2023, @06:51PM (#1297796)

      I've heard wild hogs as a justification for continued legalization of assault weapons. Do you think semi-automatic rifles can be a useful deterrent? Considering their intelligence, I suspect it might be.

      • (Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday March 23 2023, @08:34PM (1 child)

        by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 23 2023, @08:34PM (#1297818)

        Do you think semi-automatic rifles can be a useful deterrent? Considering their intelligence, I suspect it might be.

        If they'd just remove those hog-free zone signs the problem would go away!

        --
        🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
        • (Score: 5, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday March 24 2023, @02:14AM

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday March 24 2023, @02:14AM (#1297892) Journal

          Yeah, the only way to stop a bad guy with a feral hog is a good guy with a feral hog! ...er, wait, no. The only way to stop a bad feral hog is with a good feral hog--shit, this isn't working any better than the original stupidity it's based on, is it?

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Friday March 24 2023, @02:05PM (2 children)

        by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Friday March 24 2023, @02:05PM (#1297956) Journal

        Setting aside my pro-gun bias*, I can say I personally wouldn't hunt them with a bow or bolt-action rifle. If you catch aggro, they charge. That's 150-200 pounds of hate hurling at you 20% faster than Usain Bolt on his best day. Many have literal spikes for tusks. All have strong jaws and teeth that cause severe gore, crush, and bite injuries. If you climb a tree, they attack it and try to knock you out. When you approach them in pen traps they charge and jump, slamming into the walls chest-high with teeth snapping.

        Even with good shot placement into the heart and lungs they can still seriously hurt you before they realized they are dead, and most hunters (myself included) don't have the practice under adrenaline-dump conditions to reliably get good shot placement under stress. I have to agree with the gun folks on this one.

        * I hunt and trap for meat, population control, nuisance animals, and to remove invasive species. I don't enjoy killing, but I do enjoy the time spent in nature and being connected to my food.

        • (Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 24 2023, @04:37PM (1 child)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday March 24 2023, @04:37PM (#1297995) Journal

          I think it important to reiterate that hogs are omnivores, like bears, and like humans. They'll eat anything. They fear almost nothing, and they will attack.

          The only reason hogs aren't top of the pyramid predators, is heat. They don't do well with tracking and chasing prey. If hogs ever learned to hunt in a pack, like wolves and dogs, they would be fearsome predators, indeed.

          But, hogs will eat you, along with anything you have that resembles food. They'll leave behind your synthetic clothing, metallic and plastic jewelry and accessories, but everything else is food. When we eat hogs, we eat everything but the squeal. They will definitely return the favor, given the opportunity.

    • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday March 23 2023, @08:15PM

      by krishnoid (1156) on Thursday March 23 2023, @08:15PM (#1297816)

      Trapping them works, but if one gets out of a trap they'll never approach it *or similar* traps again and there is some evidence they communicate that information to peers.

      And I for one welcome our new trap-evading telepathic federal hog overlords. As a trusted member of the local community, I can give them nice scritches with pointy sticks and direct them to the best species of trees to rub their hindquarters (or whatever) on.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Friday March 24 2023, @02:59AM (4 children)

      by Reziac (2489) on Friday March 24 2023, @02:59AM (#1297906) Homepage

      Even if they're 100% domestic ancestry, it only takes a few generations of natural selection for hogs to revert to the wild type -- longer legs, long snout, athletic as hell, hairy, and generally indistinguishable from wild boar.

      The solution to the shitshow problem might be draconian penalties for proliferating an invasive species.

      --
      And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Friday March 24 2023, @02:08PM (3 children)

        by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Friday March 24 2023, @02:08PM (#1297957) Journal

        Here in Tennessee, moving a live feral hog is a Class A misdemeanor, with a maximum fine of $2,500 and sentence of up to 11 months and 29 days in jail for each animal. I believe it's also subject to equipment forfeiture too, i.e. they take your truck.

        • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday March 24 2023, @03:12PM (2 children)

          by Reziac (2489) on Friday March 24 2023, @03:12PM (#1297976) Homepage

          That seems fair enough... of course, the problem always is catching 'em,. The culprits as much as the hogs.

          I expect the root of the problem, tho, is ironically that TN is almost entirely private land, and the perpetual difficulties of getting permission to hunt that private land, not to mention a settled density that can make a secure backstop an issue for shooters. Out west we're mostly public lands, no permission required, and outside of the metros not nearly as settled (and the backstops are a lot more visible).

          --
          And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
          • (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Friday March 24 2023, @09:08PM (1 child)

            by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Friday March 24 2023, @09:08PM (#1298049) Journal

            The private land situation here isn't terrible, but you have to know where to look for it. I.e. my favorite place to get gone is on the shores of Normandy lake. The TVA owns it, but they have it open to many public uses including hunting. There's also a closed recreation area a bit north of me that hasn't been on any map published this century. I wish I had a place I could put up a primitive cabin, but the last place you could do that in the states closed up with the ANCSA treaty five years before I was born.

            • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday March 24 2023, @09:54PM

              by Reziac (2489) on Friday March 24 2023, @09:54PM (#1298054) Homepage

              The problem is whether the pigs conveniently congregate on public land. Far more likely in the west, just because there's so much of it.

              Handy Map, a bit off due to reservations being included:
              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_lands [wikipedia.org]

              You mean put a cabin on public land? cuz for private land there's only what restrictions may be local. (In fact my family owns a primitive cabin just outside of Glacier Park.)

              --
              And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2023, @05:39AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2023, @05:39AM (#1297919)

      Why bother with bounties when you can just turn them into bacon and ham and profit that way? That way the only incentive is what the dead animal's meat is actually worth. That way you minimise perverse incentives.

      • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday March 24 2023, @03:16PM

        by Reziac (2489) on Friday March 24 2023, @03:16PM (#1297979) Homepage

        Unfortunately, the dead meat is typically so riddled with parasites that it's not really safe to eat, even cooked.

        And even domestic "free range pig" can taste like a sewer, and nothing like commercially raised pork. "Gamey" doesn't begin to cover it.

        --
        And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
  • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2023, @01:36AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2023, @01:36AM (#1297890)
    Feral hogs? Just sell them as free range pork...
  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2023, @11:13AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2023, @11:13AM (#1297938)

    We are being invaded by muslims. More come each year. They breed like rabbits. What they have done to other countries is horrifying. They will claim to be persecuted minorities until there is a significant number of them and then the violence starts. It has already started here. There is no fear. They can attack others with impunity. Our culture is dying. Perhaps it deserves to die if it cannot withstand this invasion. Sadly it will be that those who support and promote these invaders will be those who feel the greatest pain when retribution comes. How do these invaders thank their hosts. How do they treat others. What mercy do they have. Other countries know this all too well. Blocked off places. Fires blazing in the streets. Theft, rape, murder. When will we learn. Defend your country or it will soon belong to others.

    • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday March 24 2023, @03:24PM (1 child)

      by Reziac (2489) on Friday March 24 2023, @03:24PM (#1297982) Homepage

      It turns out there's an excellent cure which could solve both problems at once: just toss a dead feral pig into each Muslim grave, and voila, no more "Muslim issue" (this was actually done in Afghanstan, and proved very effective at halting suicide bombers... until the brass put an end to it as "bigoted").

      "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them" -- Qur'an 8:12

        "He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah" -- Al Baqara 2:173

      --
      And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 26 2023, @10:44AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 26 2023, @10:44AM (#1298204)

        The problem with this plan is that you need to kill them first. Preferably before they kill you. Around here people go to lengths to bury the head and innards of pigs on specific properties and specific places with the idea being that one day down the track someone will find all of this and understand their what they believe in is pure bullcrap that is not worth having in their lives. This may take a while.

(1)