400-pound monster feral boars invade North Carolina. What to do if you see one.
Talk about your porky pigs.
Feral swine up to 400 pounds have invaded almost every county in North Carolina, and the state ranks No. 7 in the nation for the beastly boar, a study revealed Wednesday.
The larger-than-life hogs leave indiscriminate destruction in their paths searching for food from the mountains to the coast — Wake, Mecklenburg and other urban counties no exception, state wildlife officers say.
The growling, grunting, high-pitched squealing pigs destroy crops and landscaping and wildlife habitat and spread disease as they prey on ground nesting birds and white-tailed deer fawns, according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.
“Illegal releases continue to supplement the growing population, making control of these destructive animals challenging,” commission officials say on the state feral swine page.
The state has logged 655 feral swine sightings across 85 of its 100 counties, according to the new States with Biggest Wild Hog Problem report by Captain Experiences.
The online platform helps people find and book fishing and hunting trips, including the boar.
In 1982, by comparison, the prickly, snarly pigs were reported in fewer than 20% of N.C. counties, the report found.
To sniff out the states with the most wild hogs, the study used data from the University of Georgia Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health.
The study ranked South Carolina No. 12 with 423 feral hog reports. The pigs are in all S.C. counties, according to the study.
They’re such a threat in Congaree National Park, southeast of Columbia, that main visitor areas will close for 24 hours beginning Wednesday afternoon so federal wildlife officers can shoot hogs with high-powered rifles, The State reported.
Few predators, sexually prolific
Early explorers brought swine to present-day North Carolina in the 1500s to eat, according to the NC Wildlife.org feral swine page written in 2019 by Jason Allen of the commission’s wildlife management division.
The state eventually had more pigs than any other colony in the New World, Allen wrote.
Not only do they eat Bambi, the predatory pigs have few predators and are sexually prolific, according to the feral swine page. Few enemies means they live longer than they might deserve.
“This fact alone can cause a population of any given species to spiral out of control,” Allen wrote, referring to their lack of predators.
Because the pigs are smart enough to avoid people, confrontations “are very infrequent,” the state reports. No deaths from pig attacks appear on the state’s feral swine page.
One fateful day
In an online search, The Charlotte Observer found only one death by swine in the U.S. in the last decade — a 59-year-old woman killed by a herd of feral pigs as she stepped from her car to enter a home in Texas in 2015, The New York Times reported.
Her death was only the fifth from a wild hog attack in the country since 1825, according to the newspaper.
Still, encounters with wild boar in North Carolina are reported each year, according to the Wildlife Resources Commission. Encounters typically occur only when someone inadvertently walks between a sow and her litter or a hunting dog corners a pig.
In most attacks, mauling victims suffer puncture wounds and lacerations on their legs and feet, or people suffer no injuries at all, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Given a choice, wild pigs usually flee rather than fight,” according to Allen’s article. “Clapping your hands or making other loud noises will usually scare the pigs away.”
Trapping is the best way to remove wild pigs from an area, according to the state.
Can I shoot one on my land?
If a feral hog comes onto your property, can you legally shoot and kill it?
Yes, according to NC Wildlife.org, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission website:
“North Carolina Statute allows landholders to take wildlife at any time with firearms without a permit or license while it is in the act of destroying their property,” according to the website.
This story was originally published November 11, 2023 at 8:19 AM with the headline "400-pound monster feral boars invade North Carolina. What to do if you see one.."