PA Concerned About Invasive Pig Population 

For years, Pennsylvania's scattered wild pig population has been of little interest to anyone except hunters and farmers. But now the state's free-roaming pig population is getting a closer look from a public/private task force focused on health threats wild pigs may pose to livestock and humans.

The Wildlife Services Division of the federal Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Inspection Service are trapping and shooting wild pigs in three parts of Pennsylvania to collect blood and tissue to be tested for disease. The study comes on the heels of a Pennsylvania Game Commission report that documents the presence of wild hogs in 11 counties and confirms breeding in both Cambria and Bedford counties. 

One of the problems concerning wild pig populations is a lack of responsibility. Because they are classified as a farm animal, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has no authority over either the pigs or those who hunt them. Hunters might welcome another big-game animal, but wild pigs may be more trouble than they are worth. Half the wild pigs tested in the southern US, where pig hunting is a popular sport, are found to carry disease. In addition, all of them cause environmental damage ranging from soil erosion, damage to native plants to directly killing and eating small and young animals, including lambs, goats and ground-nesting birds such as wild turkeys and grouse. In Texas, for example, damages caused by wild hogs run in the millions of dollars annually, and USDA has had to resort to aerial gunning to control the population.

The Tribune-Democrat, November 12, 2006 http://www.tribune-democrat.com/outdoors/local_story_316002254.html