The rapid expansion of wild pig populations, and the destruction they bring, is one of rural America’s greatest threats. Spurred by rabbit-like reproductive rates, the nation’s feral pig numbers have grown from an estimated 2 million to as many as 9 million animals during the past 20 years. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the annual damage to agriculture nationwide by the four-legged rototillers is estimated at $2.5 billion. Damage to wildlife habitat, wetlands and anything earthen, such as runways and important flood-control dikes, may add another billion in damages. Kansas was not immune to the spread of wild pigs. Like Missouri, its first sounders appeared in the mid-1990s. Within 10 years, problem populations were scattered nearly border to border. Most assumed Kansas would soon be overrun by wild swine. Kansas, in just a few years, became the first state to drastically reduce feral swine populations statewide, thanks to innovative, yet somewhat controversial, methods.
Read more: KLC Journal
