A group of Senators recently introduced the “Feral Swine Eradication Act” to extend it for five years and make a pilot program permanent that would eliminate wild hogs to safeguard public health and protect agricultural crops and lands and wildlife habitat. Those Senators include Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA). Similar legislation was also introduced in the U.S. House.
The pilot program, which was included in the 2018 five-year Farm Bill, is jointly administered by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Initially, 20 pilot projects in 10 states were funded; 14 projects in eight states were selected for a second round of funding. States that had projects include Alabama, Florida and Georgia.
According to USDA, feral swine cost the country more than $2 billion annually in control efforts and damage mostly to agricultural crops and land. They carry myriad diseases that can affect people, livestock and wildlife. Additionally, given that they are present in 35 of the states and there are nearly 7 million of them, feral swine could quickly spread African swine fever if there were an outbreak of the pig-only disease in the U.S.
The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) backs the APHIS-NRCS Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program and is supporting the new “Feral Swine Eradication Act.” It also supports including in the 2023 Farm Bill $75 million for five years for continuing efforts to eliminate feral swine.