Hogs Gone Wild

The escalating damage posed by our state's rising wild hog population was in the spotlight this past September. The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy, in partnership with the Michigan Farm Bureau, Michigan Pork Producers Association and the Chippewa Nature Center (in Midland), brought in nationally-renowned wild hog expert Dr. John Mayer, of South Carolina. Dr. Mayer put on two public seminars on September 13 and 14, and spent the next day in technical sessions with state officials and representatives of several organizations. More than 160 people heard him speak about wild hogs, their impacts, potential control methods, and related issues (see seminar summary on right).

While the seminars were going on, the wild hogs themselves — most escapees from game ranches — were creating quite a stir. The Ann Arbor News reported, in a September 13 article by Jo Mathis, that the DNR received about 20 calls from citizens in Scio, Lode and Saline Townships in Washtenaw County who had seen wild hogs in the previous week. Three weeks earlier, in the same county's Augusta Township, two wild hogs reportedly chased a little girl and a homeowner who came to her rescue. Michigan State Police officer, Aaron Darkins, eventually shot both hogs in the homeowner's yard with a rifle.

On September 15, the Detroit Free Press ran a front-page article on the wild hog problem, highlighting hog-caused crop damage in Saginaw and Montcalm Counties. Other newspapers across the state ran similar stories, and the topic was discussed on radio and TV. Meanwhile, the state legislature pondered three introduced House Bills to help deal with the problem. One called for restrictions on importing hogs and releasing them inside fences. Another sought similar restrictions for all non-native mammals, and the third would allow anyone with a valid hunting license to shoot a feral wild hog.

The uproar about hogs seemed to fit perfectly the theme of Dr. Mayer's seminars — that "a pig (population) bomb is going off in North America." Wild hogs had been a major problem only in southern states for decades, but recently "exploded" onto the scene in the northern U.S. as game ranches and individuals imported them from Canada and the South, and also provided a market for local hog suppliers. Now, at least 40 states have growing hog populations, and damages are conservatively estimated at $800 million annually.

For years, even as wild hogs were escaping from commercial game ranches throughout the state, the problem had slipped under the public's radar. Few citizens realized that an exotic species capable of wreaking havoc on Michigan's agricultural and natural resources was already on the loose. Most of the public was unaware that by spring of 2008 wild hogs had been confirmed in 63 of Michigan's 83 counties, with bands of 20 or so seen in both Peninsulas. For many, the first hint of a problem came in May 2008 when the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) confirmed pseudorabies virus (PRV) in free-roaming hogs in Saginaw and Gratiot Counties as well as in several commercial ranches (see July-August 2008 issues of The Wildlife Volunteer). That disease is a huge threat to Michigan's domestic swine industry, and the MDA, with help from the DNR and the federal government, hurriedly mobilized to enforce quarantines, test animals for disease, and eliminate captive infected hogs.

The attention to the hog problems brought by Dr. Mayer's visit and the hog sightings and crop damage in Southern Michigan is important because lack of public pressure on elected officials, and in turn on agency personnel, has gotten us into this mess. Even though wild hogs have caused damage in other states for over a century, no one moved to regulate Michigan game ranches that imported them, or Michigan residents that began to raise them. State officials routinely walked past herds of wild boars without stopping when inspecting deer, elk and other regulated species at game ranches and breeding facilities. In 2001 the DNR opposed a bill to allow shooting of wild hogs that was introduced after some Russian wild boars escaped from a game ranch in the Upper Peninsula. Some biologists reportedly opined that Russian wild boars were a Southern U.S. species unlikely to survive Michigan's winters. They apparently overlooked the fact that Russian boars evolved in regions of extreme cold and snow. In 2006, MDA and the DNR issued a joint press release encouraging hunters to shoot feral swine. The two agencies stated the need for legislation and control of wild hogs at game ranches. Yet, two years later no legislation has been passed.

Officials in other states emphasize that we must act now or our slim chance will be gone. With wild hogs capable of producing multiple litters of 3-12 per year, even a few months of delay is detrimental. We got a wake-up call this past September. Hopefully, the alarm did not go off too late.

Dr. Patrick J. Rusz
Director of Wildlife Programs