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By Brian McCombie on 1/12/2012 11:54 AM
America’s got a big problem—a big wild pig problem.  Just 24 years ago, the U.S Department of Agriculture found some 1 million wild pigs roamed the American landscape, the vast majority of those found in Florida and Texas.  Today?  USDA estimates at least 5 million wild porkers spread out over 37 of the 50 states!

Some are descendants of hogs imported to the New World by Spanish explorers nearly 500 years ago.  Some were once domesticated farm pigs that got loose and went feral or wild.  Others are game farm escapees.

Wherever they come from, wild hogs come with a huge price tag—at least $1 billion a year, both in the damage the pigs do and the money we spend to control them. Wild pigs are a major thorn in the side of American farmers and ranchers, tearing up pastures and uprooting crops, and helping to spread up to 30 diseases and 37 parasites to livestock, people and pets.

Wild hogs harm wildlife, too, destroying the nests of turkey and quail, damaging wildlife habitats with their constant...