Feral swine still a problem for Bourbon County

The Fort Scott Tribune

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Feral swine is still a problem for Bourbon County, according to a US Department of Agriculture Wildlife Specialist at an educational meeting held in Uniontown Thursday evening.

John Johnson, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, was present to answer questions from concerned citizens and to offer updated information on the feral hog problem in Bourbon County. Johnson also spoke about the feral hog program he works for, which was created by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Kansas Animal and Health Department.

Johnson said that progress is being made against the feral hog problem in Bourbon County.

"It's like fighting a wild fire, without much water," Johnson said. "Right now, we don't have much water to fight it with."

APHIS program which Johnson is a part of, is in charge of tracking and eradicating feral swine throughout Kansas with trapping, snaring, aerial gunning and infrared night shooting.

"The least effective way in Bourbon County is the aerial shooting," said Johnson.

"Our program is still widely unknown, people don't know we exist," Johnson added. "I'm never out there on land that the landowners haven't given me to be permission on. We don't ever do that. We still have a lot of landowners that haven't signed up for our program, people that could really benefit from it.

"We work really close with the landowners, so I know when they are hunting them and they know when I'm out there so they don't spook the hogs. I won't try to get to take out any hogs until I'm 99 percent how many there are and that I can get them.

"Feral hogs are very similar to domestic pigs, but the feral hogs are just returning to more of the form from the past," Johnson said. "They're just becoming more like their ancestors."

The hogs, which are known to root up crops and pastures and carry numerous diseases, cause millions of dollars worth of crop damage annually in the U.S. Those numbers only include damage to crops and don't include the price tag for the other problems feral hogs can cause, such as erosion issues, vehicle collisions, livestock depredation and damage to fences. There are also costs to control and eradicate the feral swine.

Some of the diseases these hogs can carry include Pseudorabies, which effects the nervous system and can effect domestic and feral hogs, cattle, horses, goats, sheep, dogs and cats. Wild animals such as raccoons, skunks, opossums and small rodents can also be fatally infected, however, the disease does not infect people. Another serious disease they can carry is Swine brucellosis, which can cause infertility in boars and abortions in sows. This disease can also cause a loss of production and profit in domestic swine operations. Once infected a hog is a carrier for life. The only effective way to control this disease is to test and remove infected individual swine, a task impossible to do in a wild population. Swine brucellosis is contagious to humans and symptoms may range from severe flu-like symptoms to arthritis or meningitis. There is no cure for this disease in animals, while humans can be treated with antibiotics in an attempt to clear the infection. According to Johnson, only one county in Kansas, Barton, has had feral swine test positive for any diseases.

According to information provided by Johnson at the meeting, there are at least nine different populations of feral swine in 15 counties across Kansas that have been confirmed. The feral hog problem in Kansas began in 1993, when the state confirmed one population of feral swine in the state, located in Riley County. Riley county has had no reports of feral hogs since 1999, making Riley County the only place in the U.S. to completely eradicate a population of feral hogs.

During the meeting Johnson also said that Bourbon County has many of the kinds of crops that feral hogs are after. Johnson said some of the hog's favorites include: Milo, corn, soybeans, hay pastures, brome, fescue and native grass. Johnson also explained why hogs take such a large area of a crop down, but do not eat it all.

"Feral hogs maybe eat 10 percent of everything they tear down. The other 90 percent goes to waste," Johnson said. "They want the young grass roots and some of the insects. They knock it all down and eat the parts they want and the rest is wasted." Feral hogs also breed all year and in a perfect year (360 days) they will have three litters of piglets, with three to five piglets each litter.

The Kansas State Legislature passed laws regulating the hunting and transporting of feral swine in Kansas. According to the law, landowners, legal tenants and only their immediate family can hunt and kill feral swine in Kansas without a government issued permit.

"Landowners and legal tenants, contrary to what some people may have heard, do not need a permit to hunt these hogs in Kansas," Johnson said. "The government is not trying to stop everyone from taking down these hogs. We want you to take them down when you see them on your land."

Outsiders who are brought in by a landowner to destroy the hogs must first receive a permit, according to the state law.

"Your immediate family members do not have to have a permit to hunt hogs on your land. Your buddy from the coffee shop, however, needs a permit," Johnson said. "We aren't trying to make it harder on anyone, we are just hoping to prevent hunting these hogs for profit. We want to get rid of the commercial aspect of hunting feral hogs. That's why we are having such a hard time now. People start hunting these hogs as a sport and it only encourages others to dump more of them out there."

In the state of Kansas, hunting feral hogs for profit is illegal and carries penalties. Johnson said the permits, which must be renewed each year, are free and can be obtained by contacting him.

"We're willing to give permits to anyone who we know aren't looking to make a profit off these animals," Johnson said. "They do have to be renewed each year, but it's really just to help keep track of numbers and populations."

The law also bans any dumping of the hogs on either private or public property, but it's still happening in Kansas, including Bourbon County.

"We're still having people from out of state, places like Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri, bringing these hogs in to Kansas and dumping them," Johnson said. "Even though there are laws against it, there really is no way for us to enforce the laws."

Johnson said that he and another specialist are the only ones assigned to the entire state of Kansas.

"With only a few designated to enforce it, there really is no way for us to enforce the laws," Johnson said. "We are too short handed and have too much ground to cover."

Johnson said there was still a single, confirmed population of feral swine in between the Uniontown and Bronson areas, but thought they were doing a better job of controlling and eliminating that population.

"I can't give exact numbers on that population, because I don't want to guess, but we know there is a single population out there and we have taken down several of those hogs," Johnson said. "I don't really judge how we are doing based off of the number of hogs. I look at the amount of damage, how many reports we receive about damage from the hogs. When I see that the amount of damage is getting smaller, I'll know we are doing a good job."

Johnson said the hardest part of his job was the amount of ground to cover.

"If people see these pigs, contact me, call me and tell me how many of them there were and where you saw them," Johnson said. "It doesn't help when people wait several weeks before contacting me, I need to know right then. They can also let me know if they think they see people dumping feral hogs. The better the communication between myself and the citizens living in Kansas, the better I can do my job."

Anyone with further questions about feral swine, the state program or obtaining a permit can contact Johnson at (620) 215-5301.