None The Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania Press Releases Search All Press Releases Patrick von Keyserling Phone: 717-232-6001 ext. 101 E-mail: pvonkeyserling@tnc.org

Hog-Wild, Not Welcome (Op-Ed)

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA — July 2, 2008 — Feral swine are a non-native invasive species with enormous potential to damage Pennsylvania’s natural resources, agricultural and forest products industries.

We know that wild populations already are running free in at least five counties, and possibly more.  While their numbers may be relatively small today, there could be 10 times as many a year or two from now if we wait to take action.

The ability to produce multiple litters of piglets each year has helped feral hogs to become established as persistent, possibly permanent, populations in about 25 states.

Feral swine eat almost any plant or animal they encounter. They root and dig, and destroy habitat to the detriment of our native wildlife species. They wallow in small streams and wetlands, damaging natural hydrologic systems. They can carry as many as 30 diseases, which if transferred to domestic pigs could lead to quarantines or even mandatory herd depopulation. In every way possible, they compete with and destroy our native wildlife and agriculture.

The time to act is now.

Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states where we still have a chance to remove the animals before they destroy our native habitat and threaten our strong agricultural industry. The Nature Conservancy and PennAg Industries Association are urging state officials to take action now-- before feral swine are firmly established, as they are in Texas and Alabama, where they cause an estimated $800 million in damage per year to the agriculture industry.

Trapping and eradication is the most effective technique for tackling the feral swine problem, but the loss of federal funding could put an end to this program in Pennsylvania. Immediate state funding is the key to eliminating feral swine within the short window of opportunity before these 400-pound hogs breed and spread beyond manageable levels.

Taking action now will be much more cost-effective than paying for feral swine damage and population control on an ongoing basis in the future. Allocating as little as $250,000 in the state budget currently being debated in Harrisburg would fund the effort while there is still hope for eradication of this dangerous, invasive species.

We urge legislators and the governor to take action in this budget to preserve our wildlife and our agricultural resources while Pennsylvania has time to stop the threat.

Todd Sampsell       
Director, Conservation Operations          
PA Chapter, The Nature Conservancy 

Christian Herr
Executive Vice-President
PennAg Industries Association

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.