‘They’ll eat just about
anything they can get;
they’re not too picky.’
KNOWN FERAL SWINE LOCATIONS IN OREGON
Columbia
Clatsop
Umatilla
Tillamook
Multnomah
Washington
— Rick Boatner, ODFW Invasive Species
& Wildlife Integrity Coordinator
But according to Roger Huffman of the Oregon
Department of Agriculture, Oregon has had some success
with feral pig eradication attempts. One eradication near
Post in Eastern Oregon involved the use of hunters, live
traps and aerial hunting. Data in Oregon’s Feral Swine
Action plan says that most of the pigs were killed by
hunters on private land.
According to Huffman, Sytsma and Boatner, the fact
that so many of Oregon’s feral pigs are on private land is
a big part of the problem. Feral pig populations have been
found in north central Oregon near John Day and Madras
and across southwest Oregon from Coos County on the
coast to inland Klamath County. They have been found in
Harney County and on Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
One sounder of pigs was supposedly spotted just over 100
miles from Eugene: In 1997 the ODFW says there was a an
“unsubstantiated but highly credible report of feral swine
moving through the KOA Campground at Lincoln City.”
Most of the swine that have been spotted were found on
private land. Given the nature of the pigs — an aggressive,
land destroying, livestock-killing, disease-carrying
invasive species — one might assume that landowners
would welcome whole-hog eradication.
Not so, says Boatner of the ODFW. He says some
landowners make money allowing hunters to stalk the
elusive swine on their property. According to the website
for Clover Creek Ranch, located near Madras, one of the
areas ODFW lists as having a feral pig population, it will
run you $800 to trophy hunt a 400 to 800 pound feral hog
on the 2,200 acre ranch (and you’d better hope you shoot
that hog at dawn because there’s an extra $100 fee for
skinning after dark). The ranch also offers watusi, yaks,
“meat hogs” and a variety of sheep and goats at varying
prices for you to shoot, stuff and hang on a wall.
Selling feral pig hunts “can be quite lucrative” says
Boatner, making it diffi cult for state agencies to persuade
hunters of the need to eradicate the hogs. ODFW and ODA
aren’t even sure how many feral swine are on private
property. “They’re really a tight-lipped community, and
they’re not letting people in,” says Boatner. Pig hunters are
even suspected of turning wild boars loose to add the feral
pig population. Clover Creek Ranch did not return EW’s
calls before press time.
Hood
River
Wallowa
Morrow
Union
Gilliam
Sherman
an
n
Clackamas
Yamhill
Wasco
o
Polk
Marion
Baker
Wheeler
Lincoln
Jefferson
rs
son
Grant
Linn
Benton
Be
Crook
Lane
Deschutes
Douglas
Coos
Hamey
amey
mey
Malheur
Historic Locations/
Now Eradicated
Klamath
K
la
Curry
Josephine
Lake
Recent
Reports
Jackson
According to a 2007 pest risk assessment for feral pigs
in Oregon, while pig hunts can bring thousands of dollars
into a state’s economy, the agricultural impacts alone
would cost the state far more. The U.S. spends less than $1
million a year on controlling feral pigs but loses 800 times
that in pig damages.
Despite the thousands that the pig problem could cost
Oregonians, the Feral Swine Action Plan hasn’t really
been getting any action, says Sytsma. The plan calls for
legislation to control the source of the swine, population
assessment, eradication and monitoring to prevent the
pigs from returning, but all these things cost money, and
funding is in short supply.
The one thing that has happened is House Bill 2221,
which was recently introduced to Oregon’s Legislature by
Gov. Ted Kulongoski on behalf of ODFW. The bill would
make the sale or purchase of feral swine hunts illegal, with
both fi nes and the loss of hunting licenses as punishment. It
would also make it illegal for landowners to “knowingly”
let feral swine roam their lands.
So what to do if you have a pig problem on your
property or see a set of hog tusks fl ash by while you’re out
on a hike? Call (800) INVADERS, the Invasive Species
Hotline. ODA’s Huffman says hunters could still hunt the
pigs under HB 2221; they just can’t pay to hunt. The bill,
he says, “takes away the incentive to harbor” a hog. He
says, “There’s lots of hunters on our lists willing and able
to help at a moment’s notice” and turn Oregon’s potential
pig predicament into spare ribs in the sky.
ew
Pigs aren’t Oregon’s only invasive species. Go to www.oregon.gov/OISC/most_
dangerous.shtml for the top 100 invaders from mute swans to the “unnamed
estuarine snail in Coos Bay.”
‘A successful invasion of feral swine is difficult,
and sometimes impossible, to reverse.’
— Feral Swine Action Plan
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EUGENE WEEKLY FEBRUARY 5, 2009 13