By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent

LANSING, Mich. — State officials seem poised to declare feral pigs an invasive species, which would give them more authority to regulate or even shut down facilities that conduct pig hunts.

Right now there are 44 facilities in the state that offer these hunts, according to Russ Mason, Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment’s (DNRE) wildlife chief. Those are the ones it knows about since they are regulated cervid facilities, as well.

Mason said he knows there are facilities that offer pig hunts only and those are completely unregulated.

“If a species cannot be contained, the director must take action,” he said, quoting a law passed last year giving authority to the DNRE director to regulate these facilities, under certain circumstances.

Mason said there’s a statistically significant correlation between the presence of feral pigs in the state running free and facilities that offer pig hunts.

“Feral pigs are invasive,” he said. “To say otherwise is just silly. They have to be declared that. At present they are completely unregulated. One option is to raise fees. We guesstimate that the cost of regulating these swine-shooting facilities is millions of dollars.”

Nancy Frank, Michigan’s assistant state veterinarian, said the issue of feral swine has been seen as a problem for a while. “We’ve recognized at least since 2007 the issue was starting to expand and become more of a threat,” she said.

“If there’s pigs continually being introduced into the wild, you’re never going to eliminate the problem.”

Frank said it was thought previously that feral pigs would not be able to survive Michigan’s relatively harsh winters, but the state has since found out otherwise.

“We believe the population of feral pigs is increasing,” she said. “They are breeding in the wild; we’re getting reports of mixed-age groups.”

Frank doesn’t know for certain if people are letting pigs out on purpose, but “we’re concerned” that they are. “They are dangerous to the environment and crops,” she said. “There are also reports of pigs chasing people.

“We know there are wild swine out there that are positive for pseudo-rabies. That’s certainly a concern amongst our farmers.”

Mason said the issue of regulation of pig shooting facilities is one of money – as in, there is no money to pay for it.

“What senior citizen facility are you going to shut down to pay for it?” Mason said. “What nursing home are you going to shut down to pay for it? The industry needs to provide the funds to pay for it.

“Clearly something needs to happen and it needs to happen now. If we don’t reach an agreement on containment, the pig shooting facilities should be put out of business.”

Mason went on to explain that fencing to contain pigs effectively has to be much more extensive than what is required to contain elk or deer. For example, the fencing has to go underground, since pigs dig, and it has to be a lot stronger than fencing for cervids.

He said an out-of-control feral pig population would be expensive to control and basically impossible to eradicate. In Texas, where the problem is the worst in the country, he said there is a state department devoted to controlling wild pigs.