A plan in McLennan County in Texas to provide traps to anyone who wants to help eliminate feral pigs from the area has support from the County Commissioners.
The plan also includes providing $5 per tail for those who capture the invasive, destructive species.
According to The Eagle, the program will be administered by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. The extension will provide the “corral” traps that allow the pigs to enter but not escape.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension would administer the program, doling out hardware and advice on using so-called “corral” traps that allow swine to enter but not leave.
“Place the bait inside for an extended period of time, and you can get a large group of hogs, which is the most successful approach to eradicating these fellows,” Agrilife Extension agent Jerod Meurer said. “Catching one hog at a time is not going to make a big dent in the population.”
Some people have reported catching up to 30 hogs in a single trap overnight.
The plan has approval from the Texas Farm Bureau, which supports addressing the state’s wild pig situation through any practical and legal method. Feral hogs have preyed on livestock in the area and also cause a great deal of damage to row crops and hay bales.
“Environmentally speaking, Texas is in a different place today than it could have been had the growing hog population been dealt with in the 1990s,” Tracy Tomascik, associate director for the Texas Farm Bureau’s commodity and regulatory division, said. “Since they are omnivores, they are a real menace, their rooting contributing to erosion along the watershed. They eat frogs, reptiles and nesting birds. And there is no real predator for them.”