California sends in guns to slaughter 3,000 pigs - and restore island's na

[emad]

Dan Glaister on Santa Cruz island
Saturday April 30, 2005
The Guardian

Santa Cruz, a beautiful microcosm of southern California lying 19 miles off the coast, boasts numerous unique species, a lot of oak trees, a few indigenous foxes and too much fennel. And thousands of pigs.

But the pigs are in trouble. It comes in the form of Norm Macdonald, a stocky, soft-spoken New Zealander with a helicopter and a lot of guns.

Over the next two years Mr Macdonald and six colleagues from his company Prohunt will devote their every waking hour to shooting pigs. The aim is to rid the island of feral pigs that have wreaked havoc in the past 150 years.

Since farming stopped on the island and the pigs have roamed free, they've rooted around in the soil, disrupting the growth of the natural habitat and promoting the spread of wild fennel; they've eaten the acorns; they've destroyed ancient Native American archaeological sites; and they've provided sustenance for golden eagles.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1473781,00.html

[damntexdem]

1. Oink, oink.

So, will Prohunt bring home the bacon?

[DELUSIONAL]

2. Feral pigs are horribly destructive.

Hawaii has a major pig problem -- and many other island where pigs have escaped and become feral are also having to deal with how to rid these pests from the environment.

[emad]

3. We got some in the UK including crossbreed boars/gloucester

old spots, currently wreaking havoc in the New Forest.

[DBoon]

9. Some of the Channel Islands literally look like they hae been plowed

from the feral pigs.

[bemildred]

4. Big fuss and bother up in SB over this.

"Save the pigs" and stuff like that.
I'm not too worried about the pigs myself. They probably would
not have made it in the first place in a competitive environment,
you don't see a lot of feral pigs on the mainland.

[Igel]

5. Pigs, foxes, horses, rabbits.

Gotta love invasive species and their supporters.

I'm waiting for a bumper sticker "Save the Kudzu".

[ET Awful]

6. Feral pigs? Did they poop in someones garden or eat a songbird?

Well, what's the big deal then?

[Lochloosa]

12. Actually, they do terrible damage to bird species....at least the ones

that nest on the ground

[tinanator]

20. they are pure hell

Feral boars and Bullfrogs are some of the few animals I would willingly hunt or shoot. its horrible to think of the damage they could do to that little slice of paradise. I spent almost a week there once, foolishly indoors reading too much Im sure. But I did see one sight I will never forget, and I was just telling some friends about it today. A rocky stretch of beach COVERED by Abalone. And a boat anchored not far off, doing what it shouldnt ought, poaching Abs on this preserve. IF only I could have harvested a few for dinner that night...

[RetroLounge]

7. Well at least they are not Feral Cats

What if someone shoots a pet pig?

:sarcasm:

RL

[DBoon]

8. I hate to see these animals gunned down

But I also hate the destruction of the native eco-systems they have wrought.

Humans broke this, humans are responsible for fixing this.

On issues such as this, I part ways with the animal rights folks.

[XemaSab]

18. I'm in favor of animal rights

The rights of native species just happen to trump the rights of feral pigs.

:-)

[doodadem]

10. So, who gets the meat?

I'm of the opinion, you kill it, you eat it. That's alot of bacon, ham, and pork chops that could be going to feed the hungry. If it's just going into an incinerator somewhere, or being buried, then it's a complete and total waste.

[msanthrope]

13. "Great Luau Satan!" I agree, you kill it, you eat it...n/t

[guitar man]

14. I don't know about these particular pigs

But when I lived in South MS. , the wild hogs running in the woods down there weren't fit to eat. The meat was so tough you couldn't chew it.

[Bo]

17. Its good meat to....I love wild pig

[WhiteTara]

11. I wonder what they intend to do with the dead animals

It would be doing two things if they had people on the ground
who would then make that food available to the homeless and
hungry.  But I am sure that would be vetoed because there
might be some disease...although I have a feeling the pigs are
very healthy in their own little paradise.  Gertrude Stein
noted that nature wasn't alsays necessarily natural.

[rustydad]

15. Santa Barbara News Press

Is owned by a libertarian woman who has bee fighting the pig eradication program tooth and nail. She editorializes against it constantly. A few years ago the Smallest in the chain of Channel Islands, Anacapa, had a rat infestation that was killing off all the island nesting sea birds. They poisoned the rats and now the birds are recovering. She tried to veto that program also. Bob

[MisterP]

16. isn't that a lot like arming Saddam and then invading?

maybe if we Americans could see at least FIVE YEARS into the flippin' future, these double-whammies wouldn't happen

[PapaJoe]

19. pua'a

good meat should not be wasted. The boars can taste pretty gamey, better if you castrate them a few months before you butcher them. I guess that would be considered cruel as well. It is true that those piggies are terribly destructive of the flora, especially here in Hawaii.

[okasha]

21. Feral hogs are terribly destructive

They're quite capable of killing other wildlife, such as deer, and they have no natural predators once they're grown. I just finished a survey of some land that's going to be dedicated as a bird sanctuary, and parts of it looked as if it had been root plowed. It hadn't; hogs had torn it up.

[kineneb]

22. Invasive species are hard on native flora/fauna

I have no problem with the pig hunt, but as noted above I hope they can do something useful with the meat. California is battling a number of nasty invasive species, both flora and fauna.

Up here we are fighting the non-native Scotch Broom and star thistle. The broom is a serious fire hazard and choaks out other plants. The star thistle is becomming a major ag problem by invading pasture lands. And nothing, native or otherwise can eat it. Those suckers can have a 3' tap root! There are even worse thistles found nearer the coast - they spread from tubers and grow up to 6' tall in big patches. We saw a presentation on invasive plant species last year at a California Native Plant Society meeting; some of the pictures were plain scary.

-CNPS member

[ninkasi]

23. They are incredibly destructive

My husband and I have five acres in a rural area, and overnight, feral hogs can ruin a couple of acres. It looks as though it's been plowed up. We don't grow any crops, the destruction is mainly in having the land so uneven that it's hard to mow.

They will kill dogs, and some of the boars get up to 350 lbs...they have vicious tusks, too. We have the little house and about 1/2 of an acre enclosed in a fence which is made of something called hog wire, just to keep them out.

Another danger here in Texas is that they are mainly nocturnal, and a sow and piglets can be crossing a little county road, which is unlighted, and if a car hits them, the damage to the car is unbelievable.

[Baclava]

24. The Fools!!!

Speeding up evolution past the point of no return...

It's all over now.

[GRLMGC]

25. They've really hurt the Channel Island Fox population

The foxes are endangered. Pigs are not. I don't see a problem with getting rid of the pigs.