USDA Report: Wild Pigs Are Taking Over the US

Wild pigs were first introduced to the southern United States in the 1500s to provide early settlers and explorers with something to eat, and the Eurasian or Russian wild boar was brought over in the 1900s for sport hunting. Fast forward to 2017, and millions of feral pigs are wreaking havoc in dozens of states.

Escaped domestic pigs, descendants of wild boar and hybrids of both make up the more than 5 million wild swine that are costing an estimated $1.5 billion a year. The sum comes from the damage they cause as well as the need to control them.

Gail Keirn, a public affairs specialist at the USDA-APHIS-WS National Wildlife Research Center, said:

“Feral swine cause major damage to property, agriculture (crops and livestock), native species and ecosystems, and cultural and historic resources. This invasive species also threatens the health of people, wildlife, pets, and other domestic animals. As feral swine populations continue to expand across the country, these damages, costs, and risks will only keep rising.”

Wild pigs breed rapidly and seem able to adapt to any climate. They eat just about anything while lacking natural predators.

At home in most counties within fifty years

As well as moving northward quickly since 2004, feral pigs spread throughout regions of Canada in the 1980s and now threaten to expand into the northern US from both above and below.

Experts say the northward expansion in recent years is likely due to climate change causing milder northern winters, which are easier to survive than they used to be.

Generally, feral swine expand into areas similar and adjacent to ones they currently occupy, according to Nathan Snow and colleagues at the USDA National Wildlife Research Center, who modeled the distribution of invasive wild pigs in the continental US from 1982 to 2012.

After looking at how the spread was affected by factors such as landscape, climate, human presence and biodiversity, the team was able to suggest anti-invasion strategies based on predictable behavior.

The researchers said anti-invasion efforts should be focused along the boundaries of pigs’ current range. Also essential is reducing transportation of wild pigs, whether accidentally or for sport.

Since 2014 the USDA-APHIS National Feral Swine Damage Management Program has worked in conjunction with many other individuals and agencies and has had some success in limiting the spread.

However, Snow and his team found that the pigs’ expansion north increased from around 4 miles per year to 7.5 miles per year between 1982 and 2012. Without something being done to slow this down, invasive wild pigs could be present in most counties of the continental United States within the next half century, even discounting any added increase from the Canadian side.

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Image credit:  Richard Bartz, via Wikimedia Commons. Distributed under a CC BY-SA 2.5 license.

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