ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY JUNE 16 AND THEREAFTER - This undated photo provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services shows a group of trapped feral pigs. South Dakota wildlife officials want to send wild pigs crying all the way home. The state does not currently have an established population of feral pigs, but that appears to be changing.(AP Photo/Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services)
New Mexico is leading the nation in the coordinated effort to eliminate non-native and highly invasive feral hogs, a panel of experts said Monday. A panel discussion on how to enhance collaboration to eliminate feral hogs in the state was held Monday in Albuquerque during the New Mexico Cattle Growers conference.Woods Houghton, Eddy County Extension Service agriculture agent, said the hogs are a "problem, but not a huge problem" in Eddy County and he attributes that to the drought.
"Compared to everyone else that I have spoken with, the drought has certainly helped," Houghton said. "They are staying close to the Delaware River and Black River (south of Carlsbad) where there is much more food and water. The drought, for now, has stopped their migration into different areas of Eddy County and causing more damage on farms and ranches."
To date, feral hogs have been reported in 22 of 33 New Mexico counties and continue to spread rapidly. Eddy County is among the 22 counties with a large feral hog population.
Houghton said reports are coming in that feral hogs are now being seen in higher altitudes in the Sacramento Mountains, which he said has not been heard of before.
In January, the USDA gave New Mexico a $1 million grant to support the collaborative effort to remove feral hogs, along with state and private funding and in-kind donations, which may also be a contributing factor in keeping Eddy County's feral hog population somewhat under
control. "Right now, we have four government trappers working in this area through a cooperative federal and state program," Houghton said.State Land Commissioner Ray Powell said during a recent stop in Carlsbad that he commissioned a study on the feral hog problem in 2011 to determine the distribution of feral hogs on state trust lands. He said the hogs were becoming a threat to domestic livestock, native wildlife and human health, as well as posing an economic threat.
"Feral hogs are capable of carrying more than 35 infectious diseases," said Powell, who is a veterinarian, botanist and plant ecologist. "We need to deal with this problem now, and this collaborative effort moves us closer to our goal of eliminating them in a humane manner."
Powell said his agency is an active member of the New Mexico Feral Swine Eradication team and has been aggressively working to eliminate the invasive and destructive species.
Experts estimate that feral hogs can cause more than $1 billion in damage annually in the United States.
Feral hogs were originally brought into New Mexico for commercial hunting and quickly escaped. They carry infectious diseases that can be transmitted to agricultural animals, wildlife and humans. They are known to be extremely destructive to agriculture lands and native habitat.
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