Burnt Orange Report

Lighter Side Of The Lege: Wild Hogs

By Vince Leibowitz

I wasn't aware that the Texas Department of Agriculture had asked the Legislature for a half-million dollar appropriation to study--of all things--the state's wild hog population.

My problem is that I can't decide whether or not the appropriation is as stupiud as it really sounds or not.

The appropriation request came to my attention via an AP story which happens to mention Van Zandt County, my home county.

Our little hamlet made news back in 2003-04 when our County Commissioners actually placed a $7 bounty on each wild hog killed. You had merely to bring a complete set of wild hog ears to the County Extension Office to collect your bounty. And, in a time of tight budgets, the county shelled out about $14,000 for about 2,000 killed feral hogs.

I don't dispute that wild (or feral) hogs are a problem. I've seen first-hand the damage they can do to land and crops.

What I'm wondering is why it will take $500,000 to study how to control the population? Can't the state look at some other population control studies for other incorigible species and perhaps transfer some of those methods to the wild hogs, maybe to the tune of $100,000 or $250,000 instead of half a million?

If you have no idea what a "feral hog," is or what they do and are wondering why in the heck the state would appropriate one red cent for such a project, read a selection from the AP article:

In short, the nation's largest feral hog population is making a mess of Texas.

Farmers and ranchers - who sustain an estimated $52 million annually in damage at the snouts of the rapidly growing wild hog population - are asking the legislature and hunters for help controlling the estimated 2 million animals.

"Bring an AK-47, because that's what you'll need," Canton cattle rancher Don Metch said.

The nocturnal, omnivorous hogs can grow to 400 pounds and have four fierce-looking tusks that can extend five inches from their top and bottom jaws. They're more bristly and muscular than domestic pigs, and they can be ill-tempered when cornered.

Feral hogs are found in 230 of the state's 254 counties, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department estimates. Nationwide, hogs number 4 million in 42 states, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates.

[...]

The Texas Department of Agriculture has asked legislators for $500,000 to start a two-year pilot program to study the hogs in hopes of controlling them. In the meantime, Texas relies on its year-round hunting season.

Still, the hogs are causing all sorts of damage in the nation's No. 2 agriculture state.

They uproot sweet potatoes, peanuts, corn, rice and other crops. So keen are their snouts that hogs can pull up plants one by one. But they're typically not so tidy and just tear up pastures. Sweet potato farmers have reported dozens of acres destroyed in one night.

Beef producers say the hogs knock down fences and tear holes in pasture to get to grass roots and grub worms. They also kill goats, sheep and other small livestock.

[...]

The hogs are descendants of domestic pigs brought to America in the 1600s by French and Spanish explorers, and of Eurasian boars brought for hunting in the early 1900s.

They reproduce so rapidly that there's a joke among wildlife officials: When a sow has six piglets, you can expect eight to survive.

Two years ago in East Texas, the damage was so bad that Van Zandt County officials offered a $7 bounty for a matched set of hogs ears. The program ended in 2004 after residents cashed in on more than 2,000 hogs.

But wildlife officials hope hunters keep on hunting - and even expand their efforts.

"What we need is more processing plants," said Brian Cummins, an extension agent in Van Zandt County. "And a good sausage recipe."

Aside from arming farmers with AK-47s, or embarking on a study for a better sausage recipe, as our often humerous (and very qualified) County Extension Agent suggusts, what exactly will the Department of Agriculture do with $500,000 to study the wild hog population?

I'm wondering if some of the farmers who have problems with the feral hogs are scratching their head about the half-million appropriation request, too. After all, I'd venture to say individual farmers could give the DOA some innovative ideas on feral hog population control--for free.

For some reason, thinking about a group of people in the nearby city of Grand Saline who "capture" feral cats and have them neutered/spayed and then release them back to the dumpsters from whence they came, I had a fleeting thought of Texas Department of Agriculture agents wandering the swampy bottoms of Van Zandt County with tranqualizer darts and hog contraceptives. Is there such a thing as a hog contraceptive? Maybe they could use tracking devices and follow the feral hogs using spy satellites and then call ahead and warn farmers: "They're coming your way! Get the AK!"

Since a mind is a terrible thing to waste, I'll stop wasting mine on potential solutions for the Department of Agriculture. After all, they are the ones getting $500,000 to come up with a plan.

Vince Leibowitz is County Chairman of the Democratic Party of Van Zandt County and 3rd Vice President of the Texas Democratic County Chair's Association.