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Feral swine will eat just about anything
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Mike Connett, a hunter in Gallia County, Ohio, forwarded a photo of his January kill to wildlife officer. Connett, a highly-experienced hunter, leads deer hunts at Wide Rack Ranch, a guided hunting camp that he owns. To eliminate the hogs, he said, 'it will take a lot of people to get in this area. They are smart and prolific breeders.'If it grunts, has tusks, weighs hundreds of pounds and likes to root around in your potato garden, it's likely you've met one of Ohio's latest most obnoxious and objectionable invasive species — the wild boar.
Two of the jumbo-size critters that are spreading across Ohio at an alarming rate were spotted in Montgomery County last fall, one each at Five Rivers MetroParks in Englewood and Germantown.
A report from the Union of Concerned Scientists says that Ohio, with its major highways and Great Lakes shipping, is a national gateway for an explosion of environment-wrecking invasive plant and animal species.
The report recommends that President Obama, Congress and state officials enact rules and legislation to cut off the invasion of all destructive species before more damage is done.
They destroy or smother native wildlife, spread diseases, harm forests and agriculture and cost the public at least tens of millions in tax dollars a year, the report said.
Wildlife experts call the imported feral swine "eating machines." The "Hogzillas" consume ground-nesting bird eggs, reptiles, amphibians and just about anything else they come across.
Nuisance hogs, believed to be escapees from private legal or illegal game hunting farms, can be shot year-round by licensed hunters or private property owners.
