Possible piggy-bankin'

Image courtesy of Texas Department of Agriculture

400-pound-plus feral hogs are here to stay to the delight of ecologists, farmers, and their prey. Since their arrival to Florida in 1539 the hogs -- which have an acute sense of smell, and are omnivorous and opportunistic -- have been discretely disposing of small animals' afterbirths and tissue, and healthy lambs, kids and fawns. They do not discriminate. However hungry, the hogs remember to regard birds and turtles alike, and their flexible, elongated snouts do not stick themselves in the air but rather give attention to the lowliest crop, no matter how deeply rooted and soiled it is. In their nuzzling the hogs relocate native vegetation and turn over surface dirt, ever so quickly. Their swiftness is also evident in running and reproduction. The usually-solitary species that boasts superior swimming ability can run up to 30 miles per hour through the fences they so despise, and after just one week of suckling, piglets parade behind Mother, who may mate at any time of the year and enjoys a 115-day gestation period. The things are quite fast in contracting non-fatal disease, too. About half of the Southern feral hogs tested have tested positive for brucellosis and pseudorabies.

“If we turn a blind eye, we’ll have 50,000 in two years,” said Dennis Fijalkowski, executive director of the non-profit Michigan Wildlife Conservancy. Currently scientists estimate there to be four million total in the country and 3,000 to 5,000 in the state of Michigan.

Gentle reader, did we describe the feral hogs' eyesight? It is poor. Like Michigan's economy. Like some of its un- and under-employed residents. If Michigan's state legislature were to approve a bounty proposal, any person with a valid Michigan hunting license could look no further than their neighbor's cornfield and their preferred spear or rifle to earn up to 75 dollars per dead feral hog. Shall we now become preoccupied with dire risks that new hunters (myself possibly included) may assume? Perhaps. But perhaps not. This is America after all -- and the Midwest at that.

For further reading may we recommend:
"Bounty system could pay hunters up to $75 apiece to kill wild hogs." 9 Jan. 2009. By Bob Campbell. Detroit Free Press.
"Depredation problems involving feral hogs." Undated. By Robert Beach, Assistant Assistant State Director Texas Animal Damage Control Service, San Antonio, Texas. From: Texas A & M University symposium.
"Feral Pig Hunting in Wisconsin." 22 May 2008. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
"Hog-wild in Florida: UF experts say feral pig problem is here to stay." 7 June 2005. Science Daily.
"Public-private task force tries to assess state's wild hog problem." 3 Nov. 2006. Penn State Live.