Texas faces onslaught of wild hogs
FORT WORTH -- They roam the Texas countryside by the hundreds of thousands.
They can grow to be 400 pounds and have been known to flip a vehicle in a collision on a dark country road. And one bullet usually isn't enough to drop the biggest ones.
Wild hogs, which once were a problem only in east and south Texas, are now moving into areas of the state where many thought they couldn't survive. They damage crops and play havoc with wildlife, and authorities worry that they carry diseases that could create an epidemic for farmers and ranchers.
"They're the closest thing to an ecological monster that we have," said Neil Wilkins, a professor at Texas A&M University. "I equate them in terms of destruction to fire ants. And if fire ants were the ecological disaster of the '80s and '90s, feral hogs will be the disaster of 2005 or 2010. By 2010, everyone will know about feral hogs."
Wild hogs have been rooting around Texas since 1685, when they slipped away from French explorer Robert La Salle's crew. Over the centuries, they reproduced like rabbits.
About 2 million now root through Texas, creating problems for farmers, ranchers, golf courses, nature preserves, and the occasional unsuspecting driver.
The hogs have no known natural predators. Even hunters can have a difficult time killing them because of their tough hides.
They cause about $100,000 a year in damage to crops in Erath County alone. At the Fort Worth Nature Center, the creatures have rooted up the landscape and compete with other animals for food. At San Antonio golf courses, hogs have turned fairways into one gigantic sand trap in a single night.
Now, the hogs are ranging far from their traditional base and moving into Dallas/Fort Worth suburbs and into far west Texas.
The hogs use creeks and river bottoms as their own interstate network, but they didn't migrate without human help.
"They've been deliberately turned loose all over the state illegally, and with their wonderful adaptive abilities they've flourished," said Jan Loven, a US Department of Agriculture official in Fort Worth.
Many sportsmen love to hunt them, particularly the wild boars that sprout tusks. Unlike game animals such as deer and turkey, it's open season on feral hogs 365 days a year. No license is required.
"Business is great. We get calls just about every day from people wanting to go on a hog hunt," said Chris Byrne, who manages the Buck N' Boar Outfitters ranch near Grapeland in east Texas.
Feral hogs make wildlife officials nervous because of their potential as carriers of disease.
It is illegal to transport wild hogs without having them tested for diseases, but the rule is frequently ignored.
Officials say they know some hogs carry swine brucellosis and pseudo-rabies. Those diseases aren't a risk to humans, but could be dangerous to livestock.
"You've got to watch it if you're hunting with dogs," Byrne said. "I've seen one get cut by a wild hog, contract rabies, and be dead in five days. You don't even know they've got it until it's too late."
But Loven said many experts are concerned about the possibility of foot-and-mouth disease entering Texas.
Livestock would have to be slaughtered and quarantines put in place. But the wild card would be the free-roaming wild hogs.
Hogs have also become a dangerous form of roadkill on Texas highways. From the Panhandle to the Hill Country, drivers have been striking them and doing considerable damage to their vehicles. In some cases, the swine have actually caused vehicles to flip.
"They're low to the ground, they have black eyes, you can't see them at night," said Rick Taylor, a wildlife biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife. "Unlike deer, who stand up from the ground and . . . [whose] eyes catch the light, the hogs are just about invisible. And they're so low to the ground, it's like hitting a boulder."
