California has a wild hog problem, is in top 10 for feral pigs

[Jake]

If you live in California, you may already know this, but wild hogs have been a huge problem for a while now. It's so bad in fact that California ranks #10 on the top 15 list for the “most impacted by wild hogs". But Texas is even worse taking the #1 spot. But this isn't about Texas, this in regards to California's problems with the wild hog population.

The big thing with wild hogs, is that they don't have any natural predators to take them on, yet they are known to eat just about everything they can get their grubby hooves on. Due to not having worthy predators to whittle down their population, they continue to multiply like bunny rabbits, to where the population is in need of some control.

Back in the day, the 50s or so, people were allowed to hunt wild hogs without any restrictions. But once the 90s rolled around, they were required to have a license to kill. The restrictions have loosened due to a new bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to allow hunters to kill an unlimited amount as long as they had the required permits in order.

It's said that in California, hunters are only able to kill around 5,000 wild pigs a year, but that is just a dent into their population, as it is considered to be well into 200,000 to 400,000. You can read more on this article here - Sacbee

So what needs to be done? I don't honestly know. I think providing an easier to obtain permit would be ideal. Right now it sounds like they allow hunters to go out and kill as many hogs as they want, as long as they have the permit. Reading into some of the sources in the article, I found the bill text here. In it they mention that for validation of the hog, it'll be $25 for residents and $90 for nonresidents for the 2024 license year. So it's likely you need a license and a permit in order to hunt wild hogs.

What do you think about this? Will it cut down on the wild hog population?

 

[Winny]

Yeah wild hogs are a huge problem, especially when they don't have predators to keep the population down. But, having hunters go out and kill as many as they can, that is probably the best route to take. I didn't expect California to have that many wild hogs around. As long as the permitting process isn't bad, I think we can expect to see many hunters join in on this. Maybe even some hunters from out of state too.

 

[TradeJack]

Change the law to 10,000 per hunter. Or change the amount of kills permitted based on the projected population, versus the number of licensed hunters in the state.

 

[Jake]

Change the law to 10,000 per hunter. Or change the amount of kills permitted based on the projected population, versus the number of licensed hunters in the state.

That makes sense. There's going to be a lot of hunters coming out of the woodworks to hunt these hogs. Right now they are allowed an unlimited amount, but I assume once the population drops, they're going to limit the amount you can hunt/kill.

10,000 per hunter may be an option.

 

[Korner6]

What parts of California have all these wild hogs? Is it mostly in the mountains?

Wild hogs can cause a lot of damage to areas, so culling them is one way to help farmers not lose money.

One article I read said that the wild hogs cause "up to 10% of revenue loss from certain agricultural commodities".

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Another thing that is damaging is that they can carry pathogens that are harmful to humans. An E. Coli outbreak from California spinach was suggested to have been caused by wild pigs.

 

[Debashis]

I think it's necessary to address the wild hog problem in California. Allowing hunters to kill an unlimited amount with the required permits could potentially help control the population. However, it may be more effective to implement stricter regulations and provide easier access to permits. It's important to find a balance that protects the environment while also managing the wild hog population.

 

[Nomad]

I was not aware that California ranks on the number 10 position for "most impacted from wild hogs." I didn't know it was such a big problem in California, I though it was just our problem (I should have looked into the statistics). Wild hogs are invasive species, and they breed pretty fast. The number of animals seem to be pretty big, maybe they should start giving permits for unlimited hunting.