The fear of sharks keeps some people out of the ocean. Perhaps we should be just as scared of wandering into the woods in areas that wild hogs are known to occupy.
Rob Pavey of The Augusta Chronicle in Georgia reports that last year there were 12 fatal wild hog attacks worldwide vs. just 10 shark fatalities.
“When the final 2013 stats for fatal shark attacks came out earlier this month, amazingly there had been more fatal wild pig attacks than fatal shark attacks, as was the case in 2007, 2008 and 2009,” Jack Mayer, a Savannah River National Laboratory scientist and wild hog expert, told the paper.
“Again, however, in 2013 one heard about several fatal shark attacks on the news — but you never heard about fatal wild pig attacks.”
Mayer recently presented a paper summarizing his findings on wild hog attacks during the 15th Wildlife Damage Management Conference held at Clemson University.
ArmyTimes has an interesting report from Georgia on a company formed by retired Master Sgt. Rod Pinkston that uses military tactics and thermal optics know-how to the attack issue of marauding wild hogs.
According to the story, Jager Pro Hog Control Systems hunters average about 100 two-night hunts a year, although 2014 has the company booked for 132 excursions. Last year, they killed around 3,500 hogs.
In Louisiana, wild hogs are feasting on West Bank levees, prompting the authority responsible for 100 miles of flood protection to seek help from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, nola.com reports. Major damage has been caused along the V-line levee south of Marrero as well as to structures in Jean Lafitte National and Bayou Segnette State parks.
Also in Louisiana, the recent explosion in the population of wild hogs led a Louisiana House committee to back legislation that would allow nighttime hunting, the New Orleans Advocate reported. HB353 would allow the taking of feral hogs on private property by the landowner during daylight and nighttime hours.
