|
Feral and Wild Pigs
By Pig on a Spit - Apr 23, 2008 |
 
|
Pigs sometimes escape the farms in which they were domesticated only to populate in the wild.
It is believed that the majority of the breeds we now know are descended from the Eurasian Wild Boar (Sus scrofa).
Feral pigs, also known as wild pigs, wild hogs, wild boars, European wild boars, Russian wild boars, or razorbacks, are rangy-looking non-native members of the domestic swine family, Suidae.
The average wild sow weighs about 110 pounds (ranging from 77 to 330 pounds) and the average wild boar weighs 130 pounds (ranging from 130 to 440 pounds). Unusually large, trophy-sized feral pigs have been taken that reach three feet tall, six feet long and over 500 pounds. Adult males have actually been recorded to reach 1.8 m (6 feet) in length and weigh up to 300 kg (660 lb). In New Zealand, wild pigs are regularly caught that weigh over 200 kg. (440 lb)
The upper tusks on the boar (male pig) are often 3 to 5 inches long, but have sometimes been recorded at 9 inches in length.
Feral pigs are environmental and agricultural pests.
They cause damage to the environment through wallowing, rooting for food and selective feeding.
 | | Huge feral pig in Australia |
Feral pigs like other introduced mammals are major drivers of extinction and ecosystem change. They have been introduced in many places in the world and are known to damage crops and home gardens while spreading disease.
There is now an estimated population of over 23 million feral pigs in Australia alone. Feral pigs have become one of the most harmful invasive mammals in the world, responsible for an estimated $800 million in damage to agricultural crops each year.
Working class women, who depended on pigs to supply food for the table, allowed them to scavenge the urban commons for garbage. Thus city pigs converted people's waste into protein for the working poor. But a food source to some proved a nuisance to others. By 1849 so many pigs were wandering the streets of Little Rock, Arkansas, that according to one newspaper, they had come "to dispute the side walks with other persons.
The authorities in New York City had sought to ban swine from the streets as early as the 1810s. Public outcry led to the repeal of that ordinance. But Mayor Cadwallader Colden stood firm against the pigs. "Why, gentlemen!" he remonstrated in 1819, "must we feed the poor at the expense of human flesh?" Eliminate the urban commons, he argued, and the poor would be forced to find jobs to pay for food, instead of taking their meals at the expense of the city's more refined residents. As for the role of swine in street cleaning, Colden intoned, "I think our corporation will not employ brutal agency for that object when men can be got to do it."
Can you eat feral or wild pigs?
 | | Feral hog in USA |
Proper hygiene and prevention should be used when handling feral pigs as they may carry a variety of diseases including Tuberculosis - (See below).
Always wear disposable plastic gloves when dressing and cleaning feral pigs and avoid direct contact with blood and reproductive organs.
Be sure to clean up with hot water and soap after butchering and always bury or burn gloves and remains from dressed feral pigs.
Cook meat thoroughly prior to eating.
All done right, the result will be a satisfying meal for your family and friends.
Pigs are intelligent animals, and many consider them to be equal or superior to dogs in intelligence.
When living among humans, piglets learn their names within two to three weeks and respond when called. Pigs have also demonstrated a strong sense of direction, with the ability to find their way home even across long distances. Pennsylvania State University Professor Stanley Curtis conducted research that found pigs can respond to verbal communications and play computer games. The pigs used their snouts to move joysticks, which controlled cursors on the screen that could hit their targets. The pigs had a hit rate of over 80%.
A Note about TB (Tuberculosis)
Tuberculosis is a disease affecting human beings, mammals and birds. The causal organism Mycobacterium tuberculosis is sub-classified into types based on the species of host usually affected: the human type generally referred to as M. tuberculosis affects people and primates, the bovine type M. bovis, affects cattle, badgers and other wild herbivores and sometimes people; and the avian type, the M. avian/M. intracellulare complex, affects mainly birds.
Pigs are susceptible to all three but in practice are rarely infected by the first two. Most TB in pigs is caused by the avian/intracellulare complex which causes small nodules in the lymph nodes of the neck and those that drain the small intestine.
In the great majority of cases the lesions are non-progressive, they do not spread through the body, do not make the pigs ill and the organisms are not shed. Similarly, the M. avium/intra-cellulare complex causes non-progressive infection in normal healthy people. The main concern is that the M. avium/intracellulare could cause more serious disease in immuno-suppressed people and people with AIDS and the lesions in the pigs carcass at slaughter cannot be distinguished from human and bovine TB which would cause progressive disease in otherwise normal people.
This page is from our Pig Facts and Articles category.
 Read comments on "Feral and Wild Pigs" or add your comment below.
© www.pigonaspit.com all rights reserved | | 
