Feral swine in Texas: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Rollins, Dale^*,1, Higginbotham, Billy ², Adams, Clark³, ¹ Texas Cooperative Extension, San Angelo, TX, USA² Texas Cooperative Extension, Overton, TX, USA³ Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences, College Station, TX, USA

ABSTRACT- Domesticated swine were introduced into what was to become Texas in 1540 by Hernando de Soto. Since then Texas has witnessed a proliferation of feral swine. A conservative estimate of the feral hog population in Texas is one million head. They currently inhabit about 210 of Texas' 254 counties (basically everywhere but the western High Plains). Depending on one's perspective, feral swine vary from a purveyor of ecosystem pestilence, to denounced predator of sheep and goats, to desired game animal. We initiated educational programs to address feral swine in 1990. Such programs have involved a national symposium effort (1993), regional feral hog "appreciation days", and other efforts to educate stakeholders about the pros and cons associated with wild hogs. As feral swine have continued to increase their range and densities in Texas, stakeholder attitudes have typically viewed the swine as an agricultural pest. Feral swine populations have become established in the arid Trans-Pecos ecoregion in the past decade. Their impacts on agricultural crops is obvious, as are their nuisance aspects to other enterprises like livestock and wildlife feeding. Four of 5 landowners surveyed (n = 775)had feral hogs on their property. Cropland adjacent to rangelands are typically the hardest hit by feral hogs. The average economic loss since hogs first appeared on those properties was $7,515 per respondent. Landowners spent an average of $2,631 on control efforts and/or repairing damages caused by feral hogs. But their reputed damage to wildlife species and/or habitats is more difficult to quantify. Demand for feral hog hunting among various subsets of the hunting population (e.g., bowhunters) is strong in Texas, and does provide considerable income to some landowners. Concerns are often expressed about the potential of disease transmission (e.g., swine brucellosis, pseudorabies) and of the potential for bioterrorism threats (e.g., foreign animal diseases) to be introduced into the United States via feral hogs crossing from Mexico. Ecological concerns regarding feral hogs include impacts on threatened species, riparian degradation, and impacts on ground-nesting game birds. For more information on feral swine in Texas see http://feralhog.tamu.edu.

KEY WORDS: Texas, feral swine, exotic animals, Sus scrofa