COALITION FORMED TO PROTECT ENVIRONMENT FROM WILD HOGS

The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy is urging citizens to rally against proposed legislation that would negate the state’s newly-issued ban on possession of wild hogs.  The Conservancy is part of the Coalition To Preserve Michigan Agriculture and Natural Resources (CPMANR), a group of non-profit organizations concerned about the growing threat to Michigan’s natural and agricultural resources posed by wild hogs.  The Coalition supports programs and projects aimed at reducing wild hog numbers in our state and is opposed to any attempts by the legislature to merely regulate rather than ban the destructive animals.

In December 2010 the Michigan Department of Natural Resources classified the wild hog as an invasive, exotic and prohibited species under Public Act 451, Michigan’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act.  The DNR was required by the Act to prohibit possession of any invasive species that met certain criteria.  The wild hog, which does more than $1.5 billion worth of damage annually to crops, forests and livestock nationwide, met all criteria.  The long-awaited action was seen as critical to “shutting off the faucet” of wild hogs escaping from game ranches and breeding facilities across the state over the past ten years.  But the game ranch industry has pushed legislators to replace the ban with a regulatory approach that would allow game ranches to continue to import and keep wild hogs.

“An attempt to regulate rather than ban this destructive invasive species, an animal with an incredible track record of escaping fenced enclosures, is a huge threat to Michigan’s natural resources” said Conservancy President Bill Taylor, of Duck Lake.  “Wild hogs destroy habitat and prey on a wide variety of animals – from deer fawns to birds’ eggs.  We need to rid Michigan of wild hogs.”

Because of escapes from game ranches, we now have thousands of wild hogs that are reproducing in the wild and destroying habitat in many areas.  To date, most of this damage has been on private lands, but the fast-reproducing menace is spreading onto public lands as well.  The Conservancy spearheads the Michigan Wild Hog Removal Program, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and several private-sector groups.  The Program trains volunteers to trap and eliminate wild hogs.

“Our volunteers are trapping wild hogs and collecting information that strongly suggests some game ranches are still leaking the exotic animals,” said Dr. Patrick Rusz, the Conservancy’s Director of Wildlife Programs.  “It would be extremely short-sighted for the legislature to let this continue through a risky, cumbersome, and costly regulatory effort.  We need the ban to go into effect on July 8 as scheduled.”

During mid-March, five House bills and four Senate bills were introduced.  All are tied together and if passed will allow game ranches and breeding facilities to continue to import and distribute wild hogs in Michigan.  Conservationists should contact their local legislators immediately to oppose this legislation.

The CPMANR includes the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy, the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, Michigan Audubon, UP Whitetails – Marquette County, GreenStone Farm Credit Services, Michigan Agri-Business Association, Michigan Allied Poultry Industries, Inc., Michigan Corn Growers Association, Michigan Milk Producers Association, Michigan Pork Producers Association, Michigan Soybean Association, and Potato Growers of Michigan, Inc.

Understanding Michigan’s Wild Hog Problem

Ø  Wild hogs are known vectors of diseases that, if transmitted to domestic swine, could result in huge losses to domestic pork producers and other industries dependent on pork production such as feed suppliers, meat processors, transporters, etc.

Ø  Wild hogs are aggressive, destructive and nearly impossible to contain behind fences.

Ø  Nationwide, wild hogs cause $1.5 billion in crop damage annually.

Ø  Wild hogs can endanger humans, imperil wildlife populations and disrupt ecosystems.

Ø  Regulating wild hogs for sport shooting purposes is akin to regulating Asian Carp for sport fishing.

Ø  Regulating wild hogs would be extremely costly and likely would be ineffectual in preventing them from continuing to escape and proliferate in the wild.

Ø  The Invasive Species Order issued by the DNR bans all recreational shooting of swine behind fences and should be allowed to become effective as proposed on July 8, 2011.

Ø  An effective eradication program should be established to eliminate, by trapping and other appropriate methods of removal, those hogs already in the wild.  An ongoing surveillance and testing program should accompany the eradication effort to determine the disease status of hogs roaming free in the wild. 

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