MISSOURI, USA — October may officially be Pork Month in Missouri, but conservationists are asking the public to stay far away from a specific kind of pig. In fact, a state-run program is actively hunting the animals due to how dangerous they can be for people and animals.
The program killed 6,289 feral hogs in 2022 alone, the University of Missouri Extension said. The Missouri Feral Hog Elimination Partnership, a collaboration between university specialists and the Missouri Department of Conservation's Feral Hog Strike Team, announced recently that the state's feral hog population has seen a 65% decrease since 2016.
"It’s progress, but there is still much to do," said Kevin Crider, the university's feral hog outreach educator. "Feral hogs breed early and often. Sows can breed by 6 months of age and birth two litters of 6-12 piglets yearly."
Feral hogs generally avoid people, specialists said. But, they still pose a high risk of spreading diseases to both people and livestock throughout the state. They can carry diseases such as swine brucellosis, pseudorabies, trichinosis, and leptospirosis, which can reportedly be devastating to the agriculture industry. Trappers reportedly kill hogs found on public lands and move the carcasses away from water drainage areas to stop diseases from spreading.
Conservationists urge the public not to shoot feral hogs, saying it could make the problem worse. Instead, they ask anyone who spots a feral hog to report it to the Missouri Department of Conservation at 573-522-4115 ext. 3296, or on their online tip sheet.
"Hogs are social animals that travel in groups called sounders," the department's website said. "Shooting one or two hogs scatters the sounder and makes trapping efforts aimed at catching the entire group at once more difficult, because hogs become trap-shy and more wary of baited sites."
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