Much Ado About Wild Pigs – Few Practical Solutions

Seems to me that recently wild pig and wild boar bashing has become almost a hunter pastime nationwide. At least that is the impression one gains when reading the latest wild pig news for May 2010.

Boar hunting blogs and other publications are also chiming in. Almost all of them exhort the evils wild pigs wreak on the environment and the health of humans and wildlife alike. Just have a look at the most recent boar hunting blogs. First, it looks to me that many of them suddenly have made wild pig news part of their staple – following my example. Then you will find nice reports about the damage done by wild pigs worldwide from Asia over Europe to the Untied States. Here is a sampling of most articles:

http://www.reporternews.com/news/2010/jan/01/wild-hogs-go-hog-wild/

http://www.justnews.com/furryfriends/22752351/detail.html

Here is an identical article under a more sensational headline:

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2010/jan/25/aided-hunters-destructive-wild-pigs-spreading/

And here is the most recent article on wild pigs in San Diego County:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/29/hogs-wild-feral-pigs-zieralski/

This article reports much more specifically about wild pigs in a limited geographical area. It avoids repeating much of the truisms and platitudes about the dangers associated with wild pigs. Maybe the writer is not fishing for an invitation to a wild pig hunt on a private ranch?

Which, I venture the guess, can not necessarily be said about some of the blog writers who have joined the criers in the wilderness against nuisance wild pigs. Few blogs, if any, mention in their musings the main reason why wild pig populations are expanding and hard to control: The inability of hunters to pursue the boar on private land, in State Parks and other protected areas.

Isn't it kind of difficult to be invited to a free wild pig hunt, or at a much reduced price or to some special hunt conducted by a government agency when you criticize existing practices?

Think about it when a blog waxes poetically about the damage wild pigs do to the environment and then exhorts the virtues of hunting a specific ranch.

Fact is and remains: Hunting, intensive and relentless hunting, of wild pigs reduces wild pig populations considerably. It also can keep them under control. Yet, it does so only when the quarry can be pursued and hunted on private and otherwise protected land.

To state so is not very popular with many powerful industry interests. And there are many.

PJJ