An invasion of savage beasts is wreaking havoc across the United States and shocking figures reveal they are killing more people than sharks.
Officials across the country are warning of a “feral pig bomb” due to an explosion in the feral pig population, the South Florida Solar Sentinel reported.
Feral hogs, an invasive species of pig first brought to Florida by Spanish settlers in the 16th century, have now been seen in at least 35 states and are destroying farmers’ crops, destroying gardens and, in some cases, even attacking to humans.
A veteran game hunter, Craig Greene, recalled a terrifying encounter with wild pigs in 2008. He described hiding in his own three-foot-high cage, knowing there was no one around to save him, until they finally fled and he was able to escape. .
“I know that when they kill you, they will eat you while you scream,” he said. “I’d rather be eaten by an alligator.”
Wild pigs graze along a hiking trail in the Richland Creek Wildlife Management Area in Texas
Feral pig attacks are relatively rare, but still outnumber all species of shark attacks combined, research has shown.
Between 2014 and 2023, there were an average of 5.8 fatal shark attacks worldwide compared to 19.7 feral pig attacks. AgWeb reported.
In 2024 alone, there have already been seven deaths worldwide from wild pig incidents, the outlet added, revealing that the number of humans killed had steadily increased between 2000 and 2019 to a total of 172 deaths.
Dr. John Mayer, a research scientist and director of the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, told AgWeb: “Tigers, Indian elephants, Nile crocodiles and venomous snakes kill more people than wild pigs, but “Wild pigs are certainly worse than bears.” , wolves and all shark species together.
“Feral pigs are nowhere near the worst of the worst, but they are much more dangerous than people realize,” he added, describing the ferocious “stab and cut” wounds inflicted by wild boars.
In 2019, a 59-year-old Texas caregiver was mauled to death by a pack of wild pigs while outside the home of the elderly couple she cares for, before being partially eaten.
And the potential for dangerous encounters between pigs and humans will increase as land animals that used to have freedom develop.
Hogs now exist in all 67 Florida counties and wreak the most havoc in the central, inland areas of the state.
“They’ve been here for 200 years and now everywhere they go, they’re being pushed out,” Greene told the Sun Sentinel. ‘They are doing many important works. So now pigs are showing up in people’s yards because the gated community is right next to a reserve.
Greene added that people frequently call him to help them deal with rowdy pigs.
“I’ve gotten phone calls like, ‘Oh my God, I’m in my car right now, this pig is hitting his head on my truck,'” Greene said. “Come help me.”
Many Americans are also concerned about the danger that pigs pose to agriculture.
Pigs roll around in the dirt on farms to cool off and often scavenge for food and eat crops, causing billions of dollars in losses to farmers each year.
In 1982, feral swine populations were located primarily in Florida, Texas, and parts of California.
But by 2023, feral pigs will have completely colonized the southern United States, along with California.
Feral hogs also have the potential to doom the U.S. pork industry, which supports more than 600,000 jobs in the country and generates $178 billion in sales annually, according to the National Council of Pork Producers.
Animals in Asia have been spreading a deadly disease for pigs called African swine fever. After it was first reported in northeast China in August 2018, it caused the death of more than a million pigs, according to Reuters.
Experts warn that if this disease were to cross the ocean to the United States, it would have devastating effects.
“It’s the final kiss of death for pigs,” Dr. John Mayer told the Sun Sentinel.
‘If it ever reached this country in the same way it spread across Eurasia, it would be the death knell for the American pork industry. You couldn’t buy bacon anymore.
In Flagler County, which is just above Daytona Beach, feral hogs became so widespread in early 2024 that officials created a wild pig board to keep citizens informed about sightings.
Potentially dozens of feral hogs have been seen in the county in recent weeks, according to their data.
“This quality of life has been severely impacted by the chronic anxiety, fear, anger and exasperation our residents feel,” Nancy Crouch, a resident of the Grand Haven development in Flagler County, said during a county workshop.
David Schmidt and Junior Coursey load a pig onto the transport trailer as part of the Harris County feral hog trapping program at the Barker-Addicks Reservoir on September 18, 2014, in Houston.
Feral hogs roam near a ranch in Mertzon, Texas, on February 18, 2009.
States like Florida and Texas have long borne the brunt of the feral hog problem and struggled to manage it as the situation spiraled out of control.
Meanwhile, it is up to citizen hunters to reduce populations.
In Texas, people can sign up to shoot pigs with automatic rifles from moving helicopters.
A TikTok user named Aaron Hoot posted a video Last summer he was seen flying over a dozen pigs in Texas with the caption: ‘Got pork? Pig raid by helicopter.
In Mississippi, lawmakers have gone a step further, proposing a bill this year that would allow people to use drones to hunt hogs.
In Florida, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission does not require a license to hunt them, nor is there a low season.
In fact, killing the first wild hog is now considered almost a rite of passage for young hunters in the area because they are so abundant, the Sun Sentinel reported.
However, a streamer ‘Tfue’ recently received heavy criticism after filming himself shooting a squealing pig in Florida and posting it on social media.
It was later defended himself in X by pointing to a list of problems that pigs cause, including crop disturbance, predation on native wildlife and their potential to spread deadly diseases to wildlife and domestic animals.
In the video posted by Aaron Hoot, the silhouette of the helicopter is seen as it flies over more than a dozen wild pigs running across a dirt field.
Streamer ‘Tfue’ posted a photo of himself holding an X-shaped gun, alerting his fans that he was about to go live hunting wild boars.
A hunter on a HeliBacon helicopter hog hunting tour near Bryan, Texas, on October 6, 2023
Still, some Florida hunters are concerned about overhunting of the wild boar population.
Bishop Wright Jr., a veteran hunter based in West Palm Beach, told the Sun Sentinel that killing hogs en masse could disrupt the food chain in the South Florida Everglades.
He wants wildlife officials to devise a plan to redistribute the pigs in a way that doesn’t require killing them all.
But when feral pigs are estimated to cause $1.5 billion in economic damage annually, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, many believe drastic measures are necessary to stop the destruction of farms and crops.
“Unfortunately, the only solution we have now is lethal removal,” Mayer told the Sun Sentinel.
Especially in Florida, wild pigs have become a more important part of people’s diets.
Greene said he has customers in Miami who buy pigs from him, sometimes 50 at a time, to feast on Christmas or Thanksgiving.
“Restaurants now offer many more wild boar dishes,” says Mayer. “But we’re not going to roast our way out of this.”