Negative Economic Impact of Wild Pigs
Feral pigs are currently located in 40 of our 50 states with an estimated population of 5.5 million animals. This creates an annual negative economic impact of 1.5 billion dollars in the United States. Legal game populations such as deer, turkey, quail and ducks are effectively managed in most states by hunters during a specific, annual shooting season with a daily or annual bag limit.
But feral pigs are not game animals. They are considered an invasive, non-game species in most states with no closed shooting season and no bag limit. This means hunters and landowners may harvest as many wild pigs as they desire – 365 days per year. Yet, annual statistics confirm traditional shooting and trapping methods fail to effectively control feral hog populations. Why?
Why it’s Hard to Control Feral Pig Populations
One feral pig problem is young females or gilts reach sexual maturity at 6-8 months old delivering their first litter of (4-6) piglets around their first birthday and produce two litters of (6-10) piglets annually as mature sows thereafter. Their gestation period is 114 days or three months, three weeks and three days. No other hoofed mammal is capable of producing multiple large broods every year starting at such an early age. Traditional methods used to manage a game species producing one or two offspring per year will not control an invasive species producing 12-20 piglets annually.
Another problem is pigs are considered the fifth or sixth most intelligent animal on the planet depending on which study you read. They quickly become nocturnal to avoid daytime shooting pressures and become trap shy after other members of their family are captured. Their high reproduction rate and superior intelligence make them a very difficult species to manage.
Sharing Our Solutions to the Feral Pig Problem
Our goal is to share Integrated Wild Pig Control® methods and technologies which will allow landowners to better control feral pig populations on your property.