Wild Hogs

Move over, Asian carp, there might be a new invasive species on the horizon.

Call them wild hogs, feral swine, razorbacks or Russian boar, they've become a serious nuisance across Michigan.

The hogs are thought to be escapees from game ranches, where hunters pay $300 to $2,000 to shoot them. Prolific parents, they produce as many as 18 offspring a year. As many as 5,000 are in the wild in Michigan.

The state is fighting back, considering declaring them an invasive species as at least six other states have done. The director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment could add wild hogs to the list of invasives as early as September, as the state's wildlife division recommends, making it illegal to possess them. The hogs meet the definition, since they're not native and destructive.

The proposal was presented publicly for the first time Thursday at a joint meeting of the Natural Resources Commission and Agricultural Commission in Escanaba.
DNRE Director Becky Humphries said Thursday that past efforts at legislation to control boars has failed, so she asked her staff to see what more could be done. "We don't want them running around in the wild," she said.
Regulation Vs. Ban

Some agriculture commissioners said they would prefer regulation of game ranches to banning the boars. The agriculture commission passed a resolution in July seeking to license ranches and charge fees. They would have rules for fencing and could be fined if animals escaped.

The hogs compete with deer and birds for acorns and berries, eat deer fawns and the eggs of game birds such as grouse and quail, and uproot vegetation. They threaten people: In 2008, a wild hog was shot after it chased a young girl in Washtenaw County. They also carry pseudorabies, a disease that can sicken their domestic pig cousins and endangers the state's $500-million pork industry.

The aggressive nature of the hogs makes them popular hunting animals at some private game ranches. On a dozen YouTube videos and in photos, hunters pose at Bear Mountain Lodge near Negaunee with boars they've shot. "This is the real deal, just like Siberia," one hunter says on a 2009 video. "You've got to give this a shot if you're a real man."