Growing threat from feral swine has officials contemplating bounty to encourage hunting of the animals – Flint News

GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan — Wanted, dead not alive: Michigan’s feral swine.

The latest estimates indicate thousands of wild pigs are running amuck throughout the state, posing a growing threat of disease and damage to crops, landscape, farm animals, wildlife and even humans.

Flint Journal extras What is feral swine?

• Any free-ranging pig. Most in Michigan are Eurasian boars and other exotics escaped from game ranches and can be 300 pounds or more. The latest estimates are 3,000-5,000 feral swine statewide.

• Any pig can revert to a wild state in a matter of months, growing long hair and tusks and becoming aggressive. They are known to destroy crops and land and will eat virtually anything.

• A group composed of the DNR, MDA, Michigan Pork Producers Association, Michigan United Conservation Clubs and others is working on ways to resolve the problem.

To report a feral swine shooting or sighting:

DNR: (517) 336-5030 or email brownkr@michigan.gov.

MDA: (800) 292-3939 ext. 4 for Animal Industry Division.

USDA Wildlife Services: (517) 336-1928

For more information:

www.michigan.gov/dnr

www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases

www.aphis.usda.gov

Source: Michigan Department of Agriculture and Department of Natural Resources

Some wildlife experts are even calling for the state to immediately enact a bounty on the heads of wild hogs before the threat grows too large to control.

“In order to be successful you have to strike while the population is still low. Some people would say the numbers are already beyond control. But there’s so much to lose we’ve got to try,” said Dr. Patrick Rusz, Michigan Wildlife Conservancy director and a member of the state’s feral swine work group.

Most of Michigan’s feral swine are Eurasian boars and other exotics escaped from game ranches. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Department of Agriculture have been working on the problem for much of the past decade. Feral swine already are a problem in at least 40 states and parts of Europe and Canada, with few reports of successful control. Click below for full story!

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