The feral pigs have acclimated to residential neighborhoods in northern California, damaging property and threatening the safety of homeowners, according to ABC News station KGO-TV in San Francisco.
They have become more than just a nuisance, San Jose resident Shaneen Stroup told KGO.
"My friend actually, because they get to be like 300 pounds, was chased to my front door one night by them," she said.
In a memorandum addressed to the San Jose City Council, Councilman Johnny Khamis estimated that the pigs have caused thousands of dollars in property damage and pose a safety threat to children and adults. He believes the recent drought is to blame for populations moving from the hills closer to residential areas, he told KGO.
Officials from the city of San Jose have issued a manual to help residents manage the problem, saying more aggressive measures to control the population are impractical, dangerous or illegal.
"It is difficult and costly to have a lasting impact on the pig populations in this area through trapping or hunting," they write in the manual. "It is illegal to relocate pigs … it is dangerous to the community to hunt pigs."
The city says the most effective way for homeowners to get rid of the pigs is to put up low, sturdy fences in their yards. Other recommendations include using chemicals to rid lawns of bugs on which the pigs feed and putting up motion detectors to scare them away with lights or sound.
Also Read
Dan • Report Abuse
Trapping in going to prove ineffective, and cost prohibitive. I am 50 years old, I have been a nuisance trapper all of my life. Hogs are very smart, they learn very fast. They also reproduce every 4 months. The only effective method of controlling their ever expanding population is (hold on to your... More
1 Reply- Phillip • Report Abuse
Lots of comments on how dangerous and destructive these animals are to people, pets, and livestock but nothing on the devastation these things wreak on wildlife. They eat anything they can get their teeth into and that includes deer and elk fawns, or even adult animals if a herd can corner them,... More
2 Replies - DirtyMoney • Report Abuse
Since this story started 5 or 6 months ago the pig population by the way they breed has tripled. An old pig farmer I know only used a single strand electric wire to fence his pigs. Nothing else. He said they could sense when the power was on. But the only way to rid yourself of them was to Kill... More
Reply - Blueoval62 • Report Abuse
As Bugs Bunny would say "what a bunch of maroon's" . It appears that the powers that be in Cali are no smarter about feral pigs than they are about illegals. At some point the farmers in Cali are going to get fed up with the destruction caused by feral hogs. Other than the produce from Cali the... More
5 Replies - Faith • Report Abuse
Maybe the neighborhood should hire snipers ( no, really!) who would build blinds and sit in the trees and wait for these porkers to tramp by and use a rifle with a scope and a silencer to pick them off. (And,no, I have no idea about firearms ,only what I have seen on t.v. shows). This way the... More
6 Replies - MDFL • Report Abuse
Government gone dumb again. Stupid approach to the wild pig problem. Wipe out the problem before it really gets out of hand. If done right, these aggressive approaches do work. As usual, some dumb elected officials dictating how a problem is dealt with without even hiring an expert to evaluate it... More
1 Reply - Larry • Report Abuse
Laughing my backside off!! Did they not see the story about the North Carolina Wild Boar? Different subspecies, same problem. Those Barbecue on the hooves are DANGEROUS. The issued a manual! What are residents supposed to do; hope the hogs choke when eating the leaflets? I've covered... More
4 Replies - Larry • Report Abuse
I live in an area with lots hogs in Texas. The local long time ranchers and farmers. They traped them run them with dogs. Driving on the farms they have guns and you very seldom see a hog. Because of the farmers. The land is perfect for the hogs rivers creeks wooded areas etc. It helps that many... More
14 Replies
No comments:
Post a Comment