Not feral, just some piggies we raised a couple of years ago
Or just one that jumped out of somebody's pig pen up in the Town of Glen? (Doesn't matter too much, because that is one of the ways populations of the nefarious things get started.)
Anyhow, Alan saw a loose pig yesterday, rooting around in the field of a farmer we know up there, not somebody that has pigs as far as we know, certainly not inside any kind of fence...
If you are missing a white pig with spots and a lot of hair, give us a call...we are in the phone book...and he can tell you just where he saw it.
Meanwhile, we are hoping that it isn't a symptom of a population of them getting started up here. They are already a problem in Pennsylvania and the NY Southern Tier.
They are bad, bad, bad I'll tell you. They ruin crops, kill birds, eat pets, carry a whole laundry list of livestock diseases and do all sorts of other nefarious damage. One of the kids' college friends got a good paying, full time job down in Texas doing nothing but shoot hogs, all night every night...and probably didn't even make a dent in the population.
As they trickle into NYS, probably from Pennsylvania, the DEC is asking that they be shot on sight, according to the article in the Evening Sun and what Alan has been told by DEC officers when he was in the Fisheries and Wildlife Program at SUNY Cobleskill.
finders keepers...that sounds good to me...and will taste good in time too!
ReplyDeleteA large group of these things've been sighted near The Glass Bar in a county south of you.
ReplyDeleteYou should let PETA know about this. Don't tell them they are feral or they will want them protected.
ReplyDeleteTell them they are pets. That way they will kill them like they do 97 percent of the dogs and cats they get.
We've been pretty fortunate in this area - the loose domestics running wild are shot, and the razorbacks from the south haven't managed to "break in" either.
ReplyDeleteI swear. I had no idea. This is fascinating.
ReplyDelete"Each subsequent generation born in the wild increasingly appears more like their true wild counterparts .."
Yep. And worrisome, too.
They've been established here since the 1530's and we have surrendered and just made them a game animal.
ReplyDeleteYou can hunt them year round if on your own property.
Anon, we were pretty horrified to see a pig running loose, but if they do become endemic here we are certainly planning the menu
ReplyDeleteAnon, I tried to figure where it was but....
Jan, yes! Great plan! Wish I had thought of it. lol
Jeffro, this is probably just a stray from some Amish farm with poor fences. However, if it finds a friend we will all have a problem. I couldn't believe the damage in the video. Yow!
Cathy, they are extremely destructive and very vicious. Not that tame pigs are little sweeties. I guess some of them are nice enough, but I have always been very cautious around ours. They can really bite if you get between them and dinner
FC, sounds like a good plan to me. They say they are moving north because of warm winters and I find myself replying, which warm winters were you speaking of?? lol
i had no idea how vicious they were. and how much damage that they do. wow.
ReplyDeleteEricka, we have been so glad NOT to have them around here. I suspect the one Alan saw escaped from one of the many Amish who have moved in nearby, but I do hope it doesn't find a friend or two.
ReplyDeleteI hope those things don't head into Colorado, but I HAVE heard they are in the corner down by Pubelo. I don't know for sure, but rumor has it....
ReplyDeleteLinda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Linda, they are really bad and I hope they don't find their way to you as well. Texas and states where they are common spend a lot of money fighting them.
ReplyDelete