Feral Hogs: The Problem
Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program
You may not know this, but hogs aren’t from around here.
Hogs are an invasive, exotic species; they’re not native to anywhere in North America.
Rob Denkhaus is Natural Resource Manager at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge. Descendants of escaped domestic hogs introduced by Spanish Explorers 300 years ago, bred with runaway Eurasian wild boars that were brought to Texas in the 1930s by ranchers for sport hunting. The by-product of this porcine partnership has resulted in a large, destructive, modern
day wild pig population.
The activities that they get involved in like rooting – where they can root several feet into the soft soils – and they’re eating invertebrates, they’re consuming the bulbs and rhizomes of plants and everything. So, they’re having a negative affect on the plant community as well as the wildlife community.
These hogs, says Denkhaus, can also prey on wildlife species.
Ground nesting birds, reptiles and amphibians, and the like. So, their impact is far-reaching…and all negative.
We’ll talk more about this plague of pigs tomorrow.
That’s our show… we had help today from Tom Harvey… the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our show…and it’s funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels.
For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti
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