State adopts no tolerance policy for feral pigs

Being ahead of the game is the name of the game in dealing with invasive species.

That’s why Idaho staffs up to 20 boat inspection stations to prevent quagga and zebra mussels and more aquatic weeds from entering the state.

That’s why Glacier National Park quickly closed its waters to boating this month when exotic mussels were detected in a Montana reservoir.

That’s why four Washington agencies are saying no way to feral swine.

Americans put bacon in just about everything nowadays, including ice cream, but the state is adamant that we don’t let pigs go wild in fish and wildlife habitat.

A sounder of swine can rival a backhoe in uprooting crops, churning up native range and exposing it to weeds and fouling waters to choke out salmon and trout fry.

In July, an aerial effort to deal with reports of feral pigs prompted a month-long partial closure of the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area in Grant County.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife closed public access to about 1,300 acres of the Desert Unit of the wildlife area. Officials were following up on an apparently unsuccessful effort to remove or keep out feral pigs this spring, when a state officer shot and killed a pregnant sow.

A Wildlife Services team from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which considers feral pigs an invasive species, used bait and two helicopter missions to kill one more feral pig in August. The team scoured the area and left confident that the unit is pig-free.

“That’s good news,” said Laurence Schafer, wildlife biologist for the federal Wildlife Services. “We’re hoping it can stay that way.”

Feral swine were introduced to the United States in the 1500s by early explorers and settlers as a source of food. Repeated releases occurred thereafter, expanding the geographic range of this destructive species.

The Grant County feral pigs likely had escaped from someone’s private pens, Schafer said, noting, “When they get loose, they turn wild real fast.”

The USDA is working in 39 states to control feral pigs, which cause an estimated $1.5 billion a year in environmental damage nationwide.

Congress has appropriated $20 million a year specifically for dealing with feral swine.

According to the Washington Invasive Species Council, feral pigs can be extremely destructive to fences, fields, wetlands and other wildlife habitat.

“They also have potential to carry a lot of nasty disease and parasites that we don’t want in Washington affecting wildlife, people or pork producers,” Schafer said. “There’s no appreciable good we can see from having feral swine out there.”

Four state and federal agencies put out a request this week asking hunters and the rest of the public to squeal on any pigs or evidence of pigs they see in the wild. Hunters are among the best eyes in the field.

“Rapid response is the most effective and cost-efficient way to prevent the spread of invasive species,” Schafer said.

“While reports of feral swine in Washington are rare, isolated populations have been found and response has been swift,” said Justin Bush, executive coordinator of the Washington Invasive Species Council.

Some of what makes feral swine so dangerous is that they damage shorelines and wetlands and degrade water quality, harming other wildlife and the state’s investment in salmon habitat restoration, said Bill Tweit, special assistant with the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“Feral swine also prey on ground-nesting birds,” he said. “Their digging and rooting erodes stream banks, impacts tree regeneration and removes vegetation.”

“The threat of wild pigs to agriculture and the livestock industry should not be underestimated,” said Scott Haskell, the state Department of Agriculture’s assistant state veterinarian. “In addition to the damage they can cause to food crops, feral swine can carry more than 30 diseases and parasites, posing a risk to livestock, pets, wildlife and even people.

“Feral swine can contaminate livestock feed and, in some cases, even prey upon small livestock animals, like goats and newborn cattle.”

“State’s like Tennessee didn’t take steps to deal with feral swine they saw becoming a problem 25 years ago,” Schafer said. “Now they’re paying a big price for it.”

So how do you make all of these experts happier than a pig in mud?

Squeal on a pig, if you see one loose in the wild.