Strange roadkill

[aristotle]

Yesterday afternoon I encountered wild boars while traveling between McAllen,TX and Laredo. I saw two of them about 10 miles apart. One was quite large, maybe 200lbs... the other looked half that size. Unfortunately, both were dead along the roadside. I had no idea wild hogs roamed this scrubby, arid region.

[layoutshooter]

There are two kinds of wild hog in Texas that I know of. There are the decendents of Russian/European wild pig and mixes with feral domestic hogs. There is also a javelina, a native, at least I think it is, hog.

Wild feral/boar mixes are all over the south and are a very big problem. They cause a lot of crop damage and often harm people. They are becoming a problem in more northern states too, like Michigan. Couple of links below.

The Collared Peccary - Javelina - DesertUSA

FACTS ON FERAL HOGS

[layoutshooter]

More info on feral hogs:

Feral pigs are tearing up the landscape, killing wildlife and pets, and damaging farm crops and wildlife habitat in 40 states, including Michigan. Here are some facts about feral hogs:

• Pigs are native to Europe. Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto imported the animals for food in 1539.


• There are between 3,000 and 5,000 feral hogs in Michigan.



• Texas has about 3 million feral hogs, the most of any state. The state pays people $7 per head to kill the animals.


• The Michigan Legislature last year killed legislation to allow anyone with a hunting license to shoot feral hogs. Currently, hunting of feral hogs is permitted in 63 counties, including all of West Michigan.



• A feral hog killed a deer hunter in Texas in 1996.



• Feral hogs carry 13 different diseases that threaten human health and wildlife, including brucellosis, pseudorabies, tuberculosis, bubonic plague, tularemia, anthrax and trichinosis.


• It's safe to eat meat from feral hogs, provided it is cooked to 170 degrees Fahrenheit.


• Michigan residents who see or shoot a feral hog are asked to report it by sending an email to brownkr@michigan.gov.


On the Web: www.michigan.gov/dnr; National Invasive Species Information Center

[aristotle]

If the javelinas weigh only 40-50lbs, then the larger one I saw might have been bloated and swollen from lying dead in the heat of the sun. Decomposition does weird things. With some 3,000,000 wild hogs in Texas, and a bounty of $7 per head, hunters should bring their numbers under control. I wouldn't want to abandon my vehicle on some desolate stretch of Texas backroads only to walk upon a pack of wild hogs. Did you see the hogs vs human scene in one of the Hannibal Lecter movies?

[layoutshooter]

That $7 bounty has had no effect on the hog population in Texas. They are very had to hunt and access to land to hunt is a problem in Texas as well.

No, I did not see any of the Lecter movies, other than Silence of the Lambs. I missed that scene.

Those hogs you saw could have been feral mixes. They can get HUGE!!

[aristotle]

$7 really isn't much incentive, is it? Anyway, the vultures were already on the ground having pork for dinner as I drove by. Not much goes to waste in the natural world.