IRVING, TX – Feral hogs are attacking people in this town. Thirty-seven dead – so far.
Neighbors in this Dallas suburb are scared to death – a packs of hefty feral hogs are on the loose. They are destroying property and killing pets and… people! The death toll is rising every day!
“We thought that these kind of hogs would stay in rural areas,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Caleb Millbank said Thursday in Irving, where the city has captured nearly 250 feral hogs since October when they first were discovered roaming around. “They get more aggressive every day. There’s still over 500 deadly hogs roaming around this town.”
Arlington and Dallas are among cities along the Trinity River that also have reported problems with wild hogs that weigh several hundred pounds.
Wildlife officials say the hogs are dangerous and that citizens should not try to approach the hogs. Texas has up to 2 million of the hairy beasts, about half the nation’s population, and state officials say they cause about $400 million in damage each year. But this is the first time that they have attacked – and killed – people.
Although not all feral hogs have tusks, for years the animals have been a menace in rural areas by shredding cornfields, eating calves and goring humans — even breaking through barbed-wire fences, said Texas Farm Bureau spokesman Harlan Booker.
“They can do more damage than a bulldozer or a ninja,” Booker said.
Methods to stop the problem have failed, including a pig birth-control pill studied by a veterinarian and researcher. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering allowing hunters in helicopters to shoot wild hogs at a wildlife refuge in Central Texas, saying they keep destroying the habitat.
The Obama Administration is considering sending in the U.S. Army to hunt and kill the hogs. “Texas just doesn’t have resources to handle these killer beasts,” said White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney.
Are they normal feral hogs or are they mutants or aliens os somekind?
Feral hogs are tame ones that escaped from their farms. These animals can cause a lot of phyhsical damage to land, attack people and are a nuisance. Australia's outback and its farmers also have the same problems with these feral hogs.
Killing them is one solution but what about giving feed with birth control in it. This is what other wildlife organizations are doing for other nuisance animals. Or perhaps, a combination of both killing and using birth control.
I live In Irving Texas and I have never seen a feral hog in the city nor heard of an attack. As for the crap about us being scared of feral hog s its rediculas! THIS IS TEXAS! EVERYBODY IS ARMED! 2 out of 3 households have firearms! And I mean serious stuff. 12ga. shotguns, deer rifles , assault rifles ect. I pity anything that started attacking the citizens! LOL We hunt Feral Hogs all the time very tasty! Yum! Well the 200lb or smaller ones anyway the bigger ones are really nasty and gamey. Yes there are alot of feral hogs in texas it really affords quite a bit more hunting throughout the year! If more people hunted them it would thin their numbers out and they wouldnt be as big of a problem.
Really?
poor little piggies , They scream terrible when attacked by dogs in those hog hunters shows. I guess I would think differently if it was my livestock being killed .