Wild Pigs in N Utah

[smarandr]

From today's ISJ:

When rancher Brad Hawkes went to feed some of his hogs last week, he couldn’t believe what he saw.

A 200-pound wild boar with long dark brown hair and tusks protruding out of its mouth had broken into the pen and injured one of Hawkes’ hogs, which weighed 400 pounds.

“At first I wasn’t sure what I was seeing,” the Howell, Utah, resident told the Tremonton Leader newspaper. “…He was really ugly.”

The boar charged at Hawkes whenever he tried to enter the pen, forcing the hog farmer to go back to the house to retrieve his gun. When Hawkes returned fully armed, the wild animal was gone, and a panel fence was knocked down.

Unfortunately, this was not the last encounter the Hawkes family and their friends would have with the wild animal.

According to the Tremonton Leader, the animal tried to return to the hog pen the next night. But this time, family members were able to get a few shots off, scaring it away.

Then last Friday, friends of the family were pheasant hunting near the Hawkes' ranch when they came face-to-face with the boar. As they stood less than 20 feet away, it charged at them. In response, one of the hunters repeatedly shot at the animal, striking it in the face and the side.

“It just kept coming at them then went on up the mountain,” Hawkes told the Tremonton Leader.

Since then, there’s been no sightings of the boar. However, wildlife officials in Utah remain on alert and want to be contacted if the pig is found, dead or alive.

Officials who investigated the incidents told Hawkes the animal was most likely a wild Russian boar, a non-native wild pig species rarely seen in the Intermountain West. But the invasive wild boars have plagued other areas of the United States, particularly in the South.

So why would such an animal be seen running wild in a small town located approximately 25 miles from the Idaho/Utah border?

Phil Douglass, the wildlife conservation outreach manager for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, said the pig most likely came from Fremont Island in the Great Salt Lake. At one time, there was a private hunting operation that stocked the island with wild boars.

But according to the Tremonton Leader, wild Russian boars are illegal in Utah because of their aggressive nature toward humans and cattle. There also carry numerous diseases that can be transmitted to livestock and can wreak havoc on local ecosystems.

Douglass said there was little oversight over the Fremont Island operation, and wildlife officials had to step in and eradicate the island’s boar population.

However, it’s believed some of the pigs may have survived.

“It’s not out of the realm of possibility,” Douglass said. “Some may have left the island during low-water periods.”

Though wild boars tend to stay in fairly contained areas, the one spotted in Howell traveled quite a long distance to get there. Hawkes told the Tremonton Leader that the animal would have had to come to shore near Promontory Point, approximately 45 miles to the south of Howell.

If the boar could travel that far, is it possible for these animals to find their way into Southeast Idaho.

Historically, the Southeast Idaho region has not been known to have any known wild boar or feral pig populations, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. But as the hog pen intruder in Howell proved, they can travel long distances.

"I was surprised to hear there was one reported as far north as Howell,” Douglass said.

 

[1_pointer]

There was a put and take hog hunting operation our near Bear River Refuge at one time. My guess it's an escapee from there.

 

[jryoung]

When can we put in for auction tags?

 

[Elkmagnet]

I clicked on this thread thinking it would be about Utah politicians.
At least we can hunt hogs.

 

[BigHornRam]

I saw wild turkeys in Yellowstone Park yesterday. That should get the Park People worked up.

 

[LCH]

We've got a few of those around here. Destructive, but very good eating.