"Extremely intelligent and aggressive" 300+ pound feral pigs terrorize Florida residents

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Though everyone loves Porky Pig and Babe, in reality, pigs can prove to be quite meddlesome. Florida residents have been experiencing this lately, and seem to be quite fed up with it.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, wild hogs are the most destructive invasive species in the United States. There are an estimated two million roaming the Southeast and South alone.

According to the video from MSNBC, the animals can weigh more than 300 pounds, and are extremely intelligent and aggressive. They can get so massive that one Florida resident described their size as "short of a rhino" and another dubbed one she found in her backyard "Hogzilla."

The pigs have proven to be particularly destructive to residents' lawns. They usually do their mischief at night, when they wreak havoc on lawns, scavenging for acorns, worms, and mushrooms. They also disrupt native vegetation, making it easier for invasive plants to grow.

The problem has gotten so bad that the federal government is now involved. The USDA's proposed solution is not to eradicate the pig population, but rather to thin out the herd. They have allowed residents to shoot or trap the animals.

Florida is currently conducting hog hunts to diminish their pig population.

WATCH: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/07/feral-pigs-florida_n_805829.html

[scarletwoman]

1. Maybe they should stop voting for republicans.

[RKP5637]

5. That was my first thought when I saw this, they've got some wild R's running around that

need to be put back into their cages.

[AlabamaLibrul]

23. Oh, please! The title says "INTELLIGENT"!

[RKP5637]

38. Oops!!! LOL - my bad!!! n/t

[givemebackmycountry]

2. 3 words...

Pulled Pork Sandwich.

[Bonobo]

3. So that's what happened to him!

[jallo]

4. The most destructive invasive species in the US is not

the feral pig. It's... us

[RKP5637]

6. +1, n/t

[timo]

8. uhhhmm no

humans are native to the u.s. pigs are not

[jallo]

13. not really

we came across the land bridge, supposedly back in the day

[Richard Steele]

30. The DESTRUCTIVE subspecies is not native to this continent. nm

[hlthe2b]

12. It's Rethuglicans.

[DeSwiss]

7. The only true solution:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_boar#Commercial_use">Tyrolean style roasted wild boar

[47of74]

16. Actually they should call in these guys to help...

[Chisox08]

20. i don't think they could help

Birds are dropping dead all over the place. The pigs are out for revenge.

[Zoeisright]

9. Gee, if it wasn't word the words "extremely intelligent" I would have thought

they were talking about Rove, Gingrich, McConnell, Boner (sic), etc.

[47of74]

10. I thought Gov. Christie went back to New Jersey

[NoGOPZone]

51. Can't be him, the OP says the pigs are extremely intelligent. nt

[47of74]

57. Point

[Angry Dragon]

11. After scott and his buddies get done in florida

the people will wish that the pigs were all they had to worry about

[Dappleganger]

56. You've got that right!

We are truly fucked!

[MannyGoldstein]

14. And delicious

I highly recommend the wild boar from http://www.falorni.it/catalogo_prodotti/catalogo.php, Greve in Chianti.

Yum!

[Enthusiast]

35. That link won't work for me.

Thanks.

[MannyGoldstein]

37. Ooops, try this

http://www.falorni.it/catalogo_prodotti/catalogo.php

An extra comma got tacked on before.

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. Dad was a WW2 vet. He survived being shot in the head by the Nazis.

He said that the scariest thing he ever did was, as a child, hunt wild boars with a .22

[Enthusiast]

34. No doubt.

A .22 caliber is too small to dispatch a huge hog. Those suckers can kill you!

[formercia]

42. In NZ, the prize for the biggest set of Boar Tusks

was a Ruger 44 Mag semi-auto carbine. Soft Points expand too quickly and just piss them off. 240 grain cast Linotype is effective and doesn't destroy meat.
Personally, I think wild Boar is a bit too gamey for my taste. A young one might be tasty.

[Enthusiast]

63. I have heard only the meat from sows

is good. Boars are simply too strong. I remember reading once that bull caribou are inedible during the rut. Even the sled dogs won't eat the meat. I can only assume un-castrated male wild pigs are similar.

[Statistical]

53. Why a .22 did his father hate him? Wild boars need a lot more stopping power.

[lumberjack_jeff]

59. The world was a different place in 1935.

Stories. Oh, he had stories.

Suffice to say that as a largely itinerant 12 year old, a .22 was all that he had access to. But I think he could have done it with a stick if necessary.

[Billy Burnett]

17. And some sponsored bills w/o being sworn in.

[aikoaiko]

18. We make them into sausage in Georgia.

And they taste wonderful.

[malaise]

33. In the Caribbean people hunt them

Pork lovers say they are delish.

[aikoaiko]

45. Yes, we hunt them too and the young ones are particularly delectible.

now I need some sausage.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

19. Good Eats

Also since most people can not properly dress game, local butchers get some some additional work. Its a dying trade and could use the support.

[pinboy3niner]

21. Coming up on Fox: WHEN BABE ATTACKS!1!!

:rofl:

[provis99]

22. and I thought the released pythons in the swamps would get us first.

Maybe the pythons and the wild pigs will fight an apocalyptic battle, and humanity will rise again from the ashes...

[pinboy3niner]

24. Hell, by the time the bedbugs get through with us...

...there'll be nothing left for the bigger critters to feast on! Be afwaid of the bedbugs! Be vewy, vewy afwaid!1!! :)

[madmom]

25. Here I thought it was going to be about rushbo until I read "intelligent".

[Odin2005]

26. 300-pound wild cops on the loose?

:yoiks:

[saras]

27. What's the problem?

If all they are doing is destroying artificially manicured lawns, they're doing us a service. They're eliminating wastes of drinking water, sources of polluting chemicals, helping rid us of gas-powered lawn mowers...

The certainly CAN be a problem, but the article doesn't indicate that they actually are.

And as other posters have pointed out, what with the quality of politicians Florida has been putting up with for decades, I can't imagine why vicious gangs of feral pigs would 'terrify' them. Maybe it's the intelligence part.

[old mark]

28. I am sure they will soon run for political office...they may even win!...nt

[Warren DeMontague]

29. Jeb? nt

[Luminous Animal]

31. Heavens... SAVE THE LAWNS!

[Catherina]

44. +1 n/t

[Kablooie]

32. Finally! Some pleasant news. Go gettem' piggies.

[Solly Mack]

36. They're in Ga. too. I used to drive along the back roads

in hopes of spotting them. A family came rushing out of the woods to cross the road once. They were 5 feet in front of my car....huge male, relatively smaller males and females...some babies...then more males and females bringing up the rear. The huge male stood in front of the car...watching us....once his family group crossed the road he trotted away....and we drove on.

I think the male could have easily taken out my Sentra. :)

This was years ago...

[kgnu_fan]

39. According to Animal Farm Magazine,humans are the most destructive invasive species on Earth!

An idea for children's book.

[lpbk2713]

40. There's only one plausible explanation for their proliferation.

OxyRush is a Florida resident.

[Vinca]

41. Florida pigs I could handle. Republicans . . . not so much.

[chrisa]

43. What's more worrisome is the reign of feral pigs on Wall Street

[LeftishBrit]

46. If not for the word 'intelligent, I'd have thought you were referring to Jeb Bush and Rick Scott

[MiddleFingerMom]

47. They're just canvassing...

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...(I named this file "TeabaggerPiggy". I apolologize for the redundancy.
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[RegieRocker]

48. FOOD!

[XanaDUer]

49. Hog hunts? Watch out Rush!

nt.

[RegieRocker]

55. LMAO

yea Rush need to stay out of the woods. He might get mated or shot!

[Shagbark Hickory]

50. Flo-rida is no stranger to unfriendly invasive species, huge snakes, reptiles, ginormous toads and

insects and rodents

[Nevernose]

52. And that's just their legislature

The wild animals are even scarier.

[Shagbark Hickory]

54. lolz

[eowyn_of_rohan]

65. tourists, etc.

;)

[Shagbark Hickory]

67. That's not unique to FLA though. They don't like "faranuhs" here either.

[TK421]

58. When I lived in Florida I worked with this girl who was telling me how

her and her brothers would go out and hunt these things and they would get together with a bunch of friends and have roasts...I didn't really think they were all that common down there, but they really are...they are everywhere.

Talk about a veritable roadside-eatery bonanza! You're living out there with too many of these things around you, you'll never go hungry ( you just might get sick of pork ) Booster for their local economy, anyone? Spicy wild-hog burritos? Who knows :shrug:

[Liberal_in_LA]

60. pigs running amuck. lol.

[SidDithers]

61. In the immortal words of Bricktop...

"They will go through bone like butter. You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, "as greedy as a pig". "

Sid

[eowyn_of_rohan]

62. Damn Florida Cops...

wasn't aware there was an intelligent variety, though. :hide:

[eowyn_of_rohan]

64. just want to say, I don't mean ALL Florida police

just have had creepy & unpleasant experiences on a couple occasions.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

66. Scavenging for acorns, worms and mushrooms is "terrorizing"?

Poor Pigs - Flee for your lives! :(