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| Feral Hog Distribution |
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| Wolf Distribution |
I may be going out on a limb here but I wanted to share some thoughts with
you on pigs and wolves.
We have all heard plenty of news about feral hog populations spreading out of control in various parts of the country. Florida, Texas and California have been mostly over run and large portions of other states have been colonized. Overall the trend is moving from South to North.
States have been powerless to control established populations. This is partly do to large litter sizes, young breeding age and ability to produce more than one litter per year. Part of the problem is a lack of natural pressure from predators.
The best hope for this issue is the rapidly expanding population of wolves which is becoming more and more self sustaining.
Several areas show promise for first contact. On these maps there are 3 obvious areas where the species are set to collide.
1) Wisconsin has a very healthy wolf population in the North and Central part of the state, which may expand into a small pocket of hogs in the far Western part of the state. It should be noted that the closest large population of hogs is in Missouri.
2) New Mexico has a small but stable population of wolves in the West and a sizable population of feral hogs in the Eastern and Central portions of the state.
3) Eastern Oregon has a rapidly expanding population of wolves in the East which is on the verge of linking up with a large population of feral hogs in central Oregon.
It is difficult to say what the result of this contact will be. Will the wolves even predate the pigs at all? My guess is that they will. Although pigs are known to violently defend themselves and can put up quite a fight, they are no match for a pack of wolves. The fact that people use pit bulls to immobilize pigs on hunts just highlights this fact.
Additionally, it would be quite easy to separate a small piglet from a large litter during the confusion of an attack. In that respect it may not be necessary for the wolves to even take down adults when there is a steady supply of piglets.
I would also propose that dense pig populations will act as a corridor for the further spread of wolves. It may be just the edge a still struggling wolf population needs in order to make the final leap to full recovery. I look forward to following this story in the near future.
This article is amazing! How fast are the feral pigs spreading across the united states?
ReplyDeleteThe wolf and pig populations are both spreading rapidly. Wolves have been doing especially well the last few years and are spreading very fast in Washington and Oregon. Even the problematic Mexican Wolf in Arizona and New Mexico had a great year last year. Despite heavy pressure from hunting and the government, feral pigs continue to increase their range.
ReplyDeleteThe present feral pig issue is thanks wholly to people's elevation of this species as a sport hunting opportunity and illicit translocation being the primary avenue of the rapid spread. It's simply "supply and demand" economics, regardless of the fact feral swine are a ecologically devasting invasive species, people desire to hunt them, and present education on the issue just sparks more interest in hunting them which is futilly ineffective in control. It demands recognition that natural dispersal by feral pigs is a slow process, for example feral pig populations in SE Texas remained there since the 1500's and only spread across the whole of the state starting in the 1960's in response to a growing desire to hunt them and people taking it upon themselves to stock lands where they could hunt or charge to hunt. Feral pigs are controllable, but step one is devaluing them as a sport hunting opportunity. I'd urge everyone interested to review how Kansas has successfully approached feral pig management by prohibiting the sport hunting of pigs.
ReplyDeleteThe article is mainly about the wolves of course. But your statement is correct. The problem originated with sport hunting and some escapees. The embryonic population this whole thing jump started from was fostered by sport hunters. Just as invasive crayfish have over run huge portions of our waterways because of spread by fisherman.
DeleteHowever, at this point saying that it is simply supply and demand is a drastic over-simplification. Even Kansas has been dealing with the problem for 15 years and has only managed to whittle their population down from 2500 to 1000 animals. I can only assume that is about the length of time because swine population maps from 20 years ago show a zero population in Kansas. This is progress but hardly a successful eradication. They are using aerial culling from helicopters, a ban on sport hunting, and systematic trapping by paid state employees. Sounds very expensive to me.
http://www.kansas.com/2012/09/21/2499236/kansas-winning-war-against-wild.html
However, for a state like Texas who has between 1-4 million feral hogs, its just not going to be enough. States like California and Florida are over run. How would you suggest a state with 100 times as many hogs, 1000 times as many hogs, 2000 times as many hogs deal with that problem? with 2000 times as many helicopters and employees? Sure a state ban on sport hunting of swine could be implemented. But in a state with a whole different set of dynamics, I don't know that it will be a solution. That might be the only thing keeping the population where its at right now.
The methods Kansas is using are not financially or logistically viable for something of this magnitude. When the main population influx expands farther and closer to Kansas, it remains to be seen how well those tactics will hold up. The problem appears to have jumped ship. I do not think feral hogs will ever be eradicated at this point. Their population has reached critical mass. That is why they are spreading faster and farther than they used to. Its population dynamics. All we can really do is hope to control them.
We should also be careful not to let the state get out of control trying to manage it as Michigan has:
http://agroregeneration.blogspot.com/2012/07/michigan-dnr-conducts-raids-on-heritage.html
Swine are native to the forests of Europe and Asia so this is a great place for them. They are adapted to our climate and our environment. The problem is that our environment is not adapted to them. They will continue to expand until the ecological niche they are moving into is completely filled, or a natural predator such as wolves (or people) can control them.
I agree! There are many variables involved in this subject. Taking a simplistic approach to control without taking into consideration these variables would ultimately end up in "no control" in many areas. What's good for the goose is not always good for the gander. Besides human beings have a tendency to compartmentalize everything. We tinker with nature (even our own) and then wonder "what the heck went wrong?" Gee, "How can we fix it?"
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