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According to this, the hunters in the US can't keep up: https://www.popsci.com/feral-pig-problem/ https://www.popsci.com/feral-pig-problem/ > To wipe out a pop
by majormajor 5y ago
According to this, the hunters in the US can't keep up: https://www.popsci.com/feral-pig-problem/ https://www.popsci.com/feral-pig-problem/
> To wipe out a population, you need to shoot 60 to 80 percent a year, says Mayer, but recreational hunting can only cut their numbers by about a quarter.
These aren't anti-hunting liberal states, either. But apparently that's only made it worse, historically:
> But even when state officials encouraged sport hunting for the explicit purpose of curbing the tidal wave of pigs, it’s backfired. Hunters love to shoot them so they transport the animals to new areas. Even when the new hunting spots are fenced properties, the swine are notoriously good at digging their way out and escaping.
See also this older article: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-plague-of-pigs-in-texas-73769069/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-plague-of-pi...
> And yet wild hogs were barely more than a curiosity in the Lone Star State until the 1980s. It’s only since then that the population has exploded, and not entirely because of the animals’ intelligence, adaptability and fertility. Hunters found them challenging prey, so wild hog populations were nurtured on ranches that sold hunting leases; some captured hogs were released in other parts of the state. Game ranchers set out feed to attract deer, but wild hogs pilfered it, growing more fecund. Finally, improved animal husbandry reduced disease among domestic pigs, thereby reducing the incidence among wild hogs.