An active, three-pronged approach will replace a hunting-based
strategy under which hogs have multiplied.
JEFFERSON CITY-With numbers of feral hogs on the rise, the Missouri
Department of Conservation is gearing up to eradicate the destructive pests
on its areas. Agency officials say they hope to lead the way in developing
policies and techniques to reduce threats to human and veterinary health and
to the state's economic and ecological well-being.
Feral hogs - free-ranging swine without owners - have been present in
Missouri since settlers let livestock roam without fences. Disease,
predators and casual hunting have been all that kept feral hog numbers in
check in areas where populations persisted. Conservation Department
officials estimate the state's feral hog population today at between 5,000
and 10,000.
Even in small numbers, however, feral hogs are bad news. Their habit of
rooting for food contributes to soil erosion and reduces plant diversity.
They compete for food against native wildlife, such as deer, and they devour
the eggs of ground-nesting birds such as quail and turkeys. They can
transmit potentially devastating veterinary diseases, such as pseudorabies
and brucellosis, not to mention maladies that affect humans, including
leptospirosis.
Seeing such problems associated with feral hog populations in other states,
the Conservation Department began encouraging hunters to shoot feral hogs on
sight as early as 1999. This approach resulted in limited success a few
years; then feral hog numbers began to rise again.
"One of the reasons that hunting didn't work was that hunting alone is not
enough," said Private Land Field Program Supervisor Rex Martensen. "Hogs are
intelligent animals, and they adapt quickly to being hunted. After a few are
killed, the rest become extremely wary, and the effectiveness of hunting
drops off sharply."
Another reason hunting alone does not work is the fact that hunting creates
an incentive for a few people to ensure hogs' survival. Martensen said the
Conservation Department has strong evidence that hogs are being brought into
Missouri illegally and released on public land. What else, he asks, could
explain the appearance of Eurasian boars in areas previously inhabited only
by feral domestic hogs?
Since hunting has not worked, the Conservation Department is adopting a
multi-faceted approach similar to that used by state and federal officials
in Kansas. It involves traps, sharpshooters and helicopters along with other
control methods.
Like sport hunting, trapping is effective only up to a point. Hogs not
captured in the first few attempts become trap shy. Some of these trap-savvy
animals can be taken at night by sharpshooters using night-vision optics. In
some terrain, trap-shy hogs can be taken from the air, using helicopters to
locate and pursue them.
The Conservation Department is working with Kansas officials and the USDA
Wildlife Services to learn aerial hunting techniques. Training scheduled for
later this month on conservation areas in southwest Missouri will get the
process started.
"To some people, this might seem like going to extremes," said Martensen,
"but the stakes could hardly be higher. Hogs running wild and those brought
into Missouri without veterinary health certification could carry diseases
capable of devastating the state's agricultural economy. Large-scale
livestock operations in other states have been decimated by swine
pseudorabies spread by feral hogs."
Another feral hog-transmitted disease, leptospirosis, affects people as well
as most animals. Its flu-like symptoms make leptospirosis hard to diagnose.
Antibiotics cure most human cases, but about one person in 10 develops a
form of Weil's disease, which can be fatal.
Domestic animals can contract leptospirosis from ponds or other water that
is contaminated by infected animals. The disease settles in the kidneys and
can cause abortions and stillbirths.
Swine brucellosis has been found in wild hogs in Missouri and other states.
The human form of brucellosis, undulant fever, causes recurring fever,
fatigue and joint pain.
The Conservation Department owns or manages only about 1.7 percent of
Missouri's total acreage, so eradicating feral hogs on conservation areas is
not a solution to the problem.
"Getting rid of feral hogs on Department land is the responsible thing to do
to protect those areas and Missouri's livestock industry," said Martensen.
"But the really important thing about this program is to show that it can be
done and how. If we can do it, there are plenty of folks ready to join us
and do their share."
Martensen said potential partners in the Conservation Department's feral
hog-eradication effort include other government agencies, nongovernmental
conservation organizations and livestock producers. The Missouri Department
of Agriculture and the Missouri Farm Bureau Federation have supported past
Conservation Department efforts to eradicate feral hogs.
"Everyone in Missouri has a stake in getting a handle on this problem now,
before it becomes a crisis," said Martensen.
-Jim Low-
