Boar In The News – August 2011

Part 3

Let us check out this telling report from ABC7 News.

Hunter bitten by wild boar at Lake Sonoma

In the morning of August 3, 2011 an elderly hunter was hunting wild pigs together with “three other men in the Yorty Creek day use area off of Hot Springs Road near the Dry Creek arm of the lake”. One of the hunters shot a wild pig with a rifle. He only wounded it. The hunters then tracked the boar into a canyon.

"It got backed into a corner, charged the hunters and bit the man in his hand and upper leg,"Cloverdale Fire Protection District engineer Peter Avansino said.

The other hunters then killed the pig.

My comment: I bet it was a sow. A boar would have slashed at the hunters. Sows attack with a wide open mouth and bite with about 500 pounds per inch.

Hunting feral hogs?

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) used KNOA8 News to remind citizens “that a valid Louisiana hunting license is still required to take outlaw quadrupeds including feral hogs with the new laws that went into effect today, Aug. 15.”

Outlaw quadrupeds are defined in Louisiana as armadillos, coyotes, feral hogs and nuisance animals (nutria and beaver).

It is now legal to hunt outlaw quadrupeds at night from March through August on private property with any legal firearm. In addition, nuisance quadrupeds can be taken at night using sound suppressors on the firearm(s).

“The use of sound suppressed weapons is restricted to the take of outlaw quadrupeds, including coyotes and feral hogs, from March through August on private property.”

Hunters using such a weapon must have in possession a valid permit issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Feral pigs vs. coyotes: Could they be behind Galesburg's missing cats and squirrels?

Missing cats and squirrels in a Galesburg neighborhood are the subject of an article by Rosemary Parker in the Kalamazoo Gazette. A woman wrote in  complaining that her cat and some squirrels had gone missing in the neighborhood. She noticed their absence after hearing bloodcurdling screams that went on for about45 minutes during the night. She claims to have observed feral hogs “stamping the ground, tearing up the ground”.

Mary Parker asked Michigan wildlife authorities whether this could be true.

“The Michigan Department of Natural Resources had this to say in an e-mailed response to the question:

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"Wildlife chief Russ Mason (said) that pigs will eat just about anything, including cats. But cats going missing en masse is likely the work of a coyote. He has a lot of experience with coyotes because he was a USDA Wildlife Services sharpshooter out West for coyotes preying on livestock."

Has anyone heard of wild pigs climbing trees?

Wild boar deaths on French coast baffle authorities

On August 2, 2011 Reuters Life ran this report:

“The mysterious death of 36 wild boars on France's northwestern coast baffled authorities on Tuesday after tests suggested large amounts of rotting seaweed strewn across beaches may not be to blame.

Environmentalists had said that toxic, foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide gas emitted by the rotting seaweed had poisoned the animals in the Cotes d'Armor region of Brittany.

Ecologists say that nitrates pollution in rivers from fertilizers used in intensive farming has boosted the growth of algae along France's coastline.

However, tests on the bodies of six wild boars found widely ranging traces of the gas and one carcass showed no signs of the gas at all.

"With such a wide difference in the values, we cannot reach any conclusion," said a spokesman for the local prefecture.

The beach near the town of Morieux where most of the animals were found in late July has been closed to the public. Authorities are considering a range of possibilities for the deaths, which have been front page news in France, such as deliberate poisoning of the animals.

The government launched a plan to fight against the spread of seaweed along the coast in 2009 after an asphyxiated horse found in Cotes-d'Armor was discovered to have a large amount of hydrogen sulfide in its body.” (Pierre-Henri Allain; writing by Daniel Flynn)

PJJ

PS: I am still waiting to hear from the operators of the auction that claims to auction off wild boar hunts for two. I also have not yet seen that auction anywhere.