Texas Calls in the Law in Its Beef With Feral Porkers
You Can’t Shoot Them From Helicopters in Dallas Proper; Subtlety Is Required
[…] Herds of feral pigs are menacing other urban areas around the country. In Oahu, Hawaii’s most populated island, the hogs descend from forests into nearby subdivisions, encountering humans, house pets, and—before the series ended in May—the cast of “Lost.” Oliver Lunasco, president of a local pig-hunters association, says he captured dozens of animals from the show’s set.
Florida suburbs have also suffered from swine-wrought destruction. But in Panama City, on the Florida Panhandle, residents charmed by a feral pig that hung out at a yacht club disabled traps set by animal-control officers and created a Facebook page devoted to the porcine visitor.
But Texas claims to have about as many wild hogs as the rest of the nation combined. Experts put the pig count at 2 million and growing, since a wild sow can deliver anywhere from 4 to 20 piglets in a year. State officials estimate that pigs cause $400 million a year in property damage. […]
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