High Above the Hog

[groovedaddy]

“I HAVE feral pigs that overrun my farm and I’d like to shoot them out of a helicopter,” the comedian Roseanne Barr said on “The Tonight Show” earlier this month. She was announcing a tongue-in-cheek run for office and also joking about Sarah Palin’s infamous support for the aerial hunting of wolves. “That’s kind of what got me to thinking that I, too, should run for president,” she said.

On the shooting-pigs-from-helicopters issue, however, Ms. Barr’s real competition is Rick Perry. There are an estimated four million to five million feral hogs in the United States — mostly in California, Hawaii (where they threaten Ms. Barr’s macadamia trees) and the Gulf Coast, where Mr. Perry, the Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate, has signed legislation to allow any Texan with a hunting license to rent a seat on a helicopter and blast away at pigs, starting Thursday.

Biologists and wildlife officials hope to wipe out feral hogs — which are simply domestic stock turned wild — because they tear up wetlands, kill native vegetation and eat the eggs of turtles and ground-nesting birds. Farmers detest them because they destroy fences, root up crops and harbor livestock diseases.

The only people who admire wild pigs are hunters. Ancient Romans considered the wild boar noble quarry because it was elusive and fought fiercely when cornered, and today’s feral pigs have those same qualities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/opinion/high-above-the-hog.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

[provis99]

1. wild pigs are a lot like humans.

They're violent, wind up wrecking the environment they live in, and destroy other species.

[SteveM]

2. Pigs know both sides...

In Granger Wildlife Management Area, 55 miles NE of Austin, TX Texas Parks & Wildlife officers had to clear hogs, using automatic rifles fired from helicopters. There is a 365 open season if you use archery equipment, but not for guns (except for occasional draws). I've seen them several times when hunting small game, yet cannot shoot them as it is not legal. A better way would be to allow a warden to issue on-the-spot permits for hunters (using proper arms) so that they may take a hog, even if hunting other species.

You left out Florida where feral hog outnumber deer, and probably come in No. 2 behind Texas in numbers.