Hogs Gone Wild is a Texas Non-Profit Organization.
We have three main goals for helping and assisting others.
HOG REMOVAL – the removal of unwanted hogs from the ranches and property being destroyed by their over population.
SHARING THE HARVEST – the donation of pork to homeless shelters and soup kitchen that feed the less fortunate.
SCHOLARSHIPS – the awarding of scholarships to children of the men & women of our armed services.
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Hogs Gone Wild
was formed after we recognized the escalating national problem of free-roaming wild hogs. Because their reproduction rate is unbelievably high (in just five years, two hogs can produce 44,000 of their kind), controlling the population of these aggressive and unruly beasts is crucial to mitigate costly damages to private property and wildlife habitat as well as the physical danger to animals and humans. The current estimate on wild hogs is six million with many over 300 pounds. In the United States, millions of dollars of damage is caused per year for business, farm and homeowners. Hogs Gone Wild is attempting to combat these ferocious yet intelligent animals by hunting, trapping them where they live and breed.
Feral hogs resemble domestic hogs, but they are leaner and meaner and well adapted to surviving in the wild. Unlike their cartoon and barnyard counterparts, they’re also far more intelligent and swift of hoof. With a disc-shaped snout teeming with olfactory nerves, nothing escapes their extraordinary sense of smell, not even buried insect larvae, worms and tubers. While acorns are their favorite food, they will eat almost anything they can uncover or overcome, including snakes, lizards, frogs, even deer fawns. Females or sows and their young travel in herds, which may number from five to 50. Older males, the boars, usually live alone, rejoining the herd when sows are in heat. Their tusks continually grow and grind together. The harder top tusk functions like a whetstone, keeping the longer bottom tusk razor-sharp.
An estimated 500,000 wild pigs now roam the Sunshine State; only Texas has more. The tusky invaders host a variety of nasty diseases and parasites, from cholera, tuberculosis, salmonella and anthrax to pesky fleas, ticks and lice. And if they haven’t already arrived, chances are they’re coming soon to a area near you.
They roam in large groups, chow down on just about anything they can get their snouts on – including native frogs, snakes and ground nesting birds – and generally make a giant mess of things. “A sow and few pigs will just move along and eat all night long – rooting up the ground with their snouts – destroying acre upon acre. Virtually overnight, they can change the entire plant composition of the land. When they’re not rooting for grubs and acorns, pigs also trample and knock down huge swaths of native vegetation and crops. You can trap them, you can hunt them, but unless you significantly reduce the population at any one time and repeatedly, they’re just going to fill the plate right back up. A pig reaches sexual maturity before it is a year old and can produce two, and sometimes more, litters a year. A litter can number a dozen. That’s a lot of rip-rooting piglets. “They’re kind of like cockroaches, For every one you see there are probably 30 to 40 more in the woods.
To control feral hogs, land managers resort to hunting, trapping and fencing, but it’s a constant uphill battle. Even with weekly efforts we’re just kind of scooping up the excess off the edges – and not really having any real effect on the population as a whole.
The wild pigs wreaking havoc on preserves around Tampa Bay aren’t native to Florida – but they’ve been here so long they think they own the place.We have Christopher Columbus, Hernando DeSoto and other pork-smitten early settlers to thank for that. European hogs arrived by boat centuries ago, and they either escaped primitive pig roasts or were released into the wild some 500 years ago. It’s been a hog’s heaven ever since then, with piggies hoofing it as far north as Canada, and into at least 35 states. Male pigs can be particularly intimidating, tipping the scales at up to 300 pounds. And while most pigs will avoid humans, they can become aggressive when trapped. You need a big gun to bring down one of these monsters.
Counties hire hog contractors to trap or quarantine pigs that may ultimately be sold for slaughter. If they recover 200 to 300 animals in a single year, its only a drop in the bucket against a swelling swine population. Some of the highest densities of feral hogs can be found where large forested tracts, dense vegetation, abundant water and limited public access provide an ideal environment for pigs. Some managers express hope of finding a swine contraceptive that could be distributed in food pellets dropped from airplanes, a tactic that has been effective in stalling rabies outbreaks in raccoons. The challenge, he acknowledges, is finding a contraceptive that would work only on feral pigs and packaging it in a bait attractive to swine. Wildlife managers haven’t gotten more serious about eradicating nuisance pigs is that hog hunting is big sport. People who love to hunt hogs love it more than life itself.
Texas based Hogs Gone Wild declares war on wild hogs…
(Reuters) – October 2010 won’t be the best month to be a feral hog in the state of Texas.
The state’s Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples has declared October “Hog Out Month – Get the Hog Outta Texas!” as part of a campaign to eradicate the pests.
The campaign aims to get Texans to lock and load and hunt down the animals, which cause widespread damage to farmers and other landowners.
“Not only are feral hogs a costly nuisance to agricultural operations and wildlife habitats, but they are increasingly finding their way into urban areas and destroying residents’ yards, public parks and golf courses,” Staples said in a statement this week when the campaign was unveiled.
“On my ranch in East Texas, I have eliminated a number of hogs and I am asking Texans around the state to step up and join the county challenge to learn about feral hogs and how best to legally hunt and trap them in their area,” he added.
Feral hogs are mostly domestic pigs that have gone wild, with some European wild boars that have escaped from exotic game ranches thrown into the mix and bloodlines.
State officials estimate the feral hog population in Texas to be around 2 million and they are estimated to cause around $400 million in damage annually as they eat or root up pastures, crops and even golf courses. This makes them one of the most costly invasive species in the country. The campaign may not please some animal rights groups but Texas farmers don’t need much prompting to pull the trigger when it comes to feral hogs.
Their numbers are growing because they are prolific breeders with few natural predators and are moving into suburban and urban areas. They are also regarded as a challenge to hunt or trap because they are wary and intelligent. In author George Orwell’s novel “Animal Farm,” the pigs ran the show for a reason. “Get the Hog Outta Texas” month will feature a challenge among Texas counties that will run until October 31. The county that documents the most hogs removed during the month will get a $25,000 grant toward what the Texas Department of Agriculture terms “feral hog abatement technologies.”
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