Mo. department seeks to oust feral pigs

Thursday, August 16, 2012

JEFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Department of Conservation has been working to rid its lands around the state of feral hogs.

The department said Wednesday that wild hogs have been damaging crops and habitat. The agency says they’re especially troublesome during the current drought because they get into shallow farm ponds and streams and pollute the water.

Debra Burns, wildlife supervisor for the department’s Kansas City Region, says bands of hogs have been found in west-central Missouri. The department says most of Missouri’s feral hogs have been released illegally by people who intend to hunt them or charge fees for guiding hunters.

The Conservation Department is asking people who see the hogs on its lands to contact the agency or a local conservation agent.

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kentheco 9 months, 1 week ago

Notice they didn't say the pigs were dangerous, just that they contaminate the water.

dokeus6 9 months, 1 week ago

It's a shame that the Conservation doesn't feel that way about water when Industries are contaminating the water with chemicals from their manufacturing processes.

asb 9 months, 1 week ago

Conservation does care, they just don't have authority to do anything about it. That's DNR's job . . . and industry, particularly agriculture, has DNR locked up pretty good. Not totally mind you, more like an ankle bracelet that bites.

JCLifer 9 months, 1 week ago

Yet another reason why it is important to let the citizens own firearms.

As for the pigs, just declare open season on them and encourage hunting. Pay a bounty on each head. The problem will be quicly solved. If hunters don't want the meat, process the pigs and give them to the needy. My granddad used to process hogs and he bragged that he used every bit of the hog except the "oink". Head cheese, blood sausage, tripe, and snoots are all yummy, especially if you know how to fix 'em.

asb 9 months, 1 week ago

Like somebody says people shouldn't own firearms? Who? Conservation does want the hogs hunted out, but it's not as simplistic as you'd have it. People release them into the wild so they'll have hogs to hunt. When hogs are feral, they change. They become a lot like their ancestors, scrawny and mean as all getout. There's a type of dog specifically bred to hunt feral hogs, the Catahoula. One Catahoula won't even hunt hogs. Two will try and often get hurt in the process (they're only about 65 to 75 pound dogs). Three almost always get the hog. You can find them in dog pounds all over southern Missouri today, but 15 years ago they were nearly unheard of outside their native Catahoula parish in Louisiana where they were bred to herd cattle and hunt hogs in marshes. I've seen a couple here in town so maybe the hogs aren't far off. You go git ya one Lifer.

Littleinvestor 9 months, 1 week ago

Feral hogs kill and eat anything, including pets, calves, sheep, fawns and a person if they can. They are dangerous and extremely destructive to the land as they root for nuts, mushrooms and the like. Anyone who releases hogs intentionally does not care about the environment or other people. Plenty of hogs escape from captivity, too, and wild hogs have been in the state for generations. In the Ozarks, hunters shoot them when they see them and so do farmers. They are good eating, by the way.

eileen10 9 months, 1 week ago

A slab of bacon sounds good to me.

muleman 9 months, 1 week ago

I really doubt if many or any hogs have been brought in and released. The overpopulation of hogs in the southern states is driving them north. The severe drought and all the wildfires in Texas last year had to send a lot of animals to other areas looking for food, water, and shelter. Its funny to me how MODC says hogs are imported but they say nothing about the armadillos that are here now but never used to be

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