SILVERTON -- Hundreds of acres of crops have been lost to wild pigs, rooting up anything and everything, every chance they get. Farmers have tried in vain to eradicate the hogs from their farmland, by any means necessary. Some have rented helicopters, hired hunters, set traps, and shot several themselves with little to no impact.
"They just tear up everything that they come to, and make trails across all the fields... And just wander out in the maze stalks and maul down what they don't eat...just mow them down." said Silverton farmer, Tobe Riddle.
The wild pigs live in the canyons, and at night they make their way up into the farmer's fields and make a feast for themselves. That feast costs upwards of thousands of dollars worth of damage. Here in the state of Texas alone, we're told that damage is worth 60 million dollars.
Texas game warden Clint Hunt says, "From what I've been told by some biologists...you have to be able to kill or control 85% of the population just to keep the population level that it is...today."
One farmer who chooses to remain anonymous found and killed a 380 pound boar. Just imagine the amount of damage and animal of that size can do on its own. Now imagine 20 other pigs, likely smaller rooting around in your fields, eating your crops, and trampling what's left. Another farmer in Silverton suspects he's lost over 150 of his 700 acres of crops from the pigs alone.
The Texas Department of Agriculture has one million dollars in grant money for research to find a solution to this statewide problem. As of right now, there is none.
