Pigs Gone Wild..A Little Entertainment?

Seems like they think trapping & relocating these animals is
just to much trouble.:(


Wild Pigs Causing Farmers Problems

By ROXANA HEGEMAN
Associated Press Writer

BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) -- Hunters tired of taking aim at pheasant or deer are tracking down something a bit more mundane: pigs.

These porkers, though, don't appear to be ordinary oinkers. They are, the local farmers surmise, hogs gone wild.

They're are rooting up yards, destroying crops and driving dogs crazy. And this crowd of about 20 to 30 hams is drawing sportsmen here to Sumner County, in the south-central part of the state.

Some of the sportsmen, though, are acting like boors themselves.

Complaints of trespassing have spiked as word of the pack has spread. The farmers said they have been inundated with telephone calls from inquisitive hunters .


"I drive down to Texas to hunt the darn things and here they are in my backyard," said county Sheriff Gerald Gilkey, who himself shot a 600-pound boar in December.

Gilkey's office has received reports of the animals, including piglets, in a 40-square-mile area around Belle Plaine, but the sheriff said wild pig herds have also been reported in other parts of the state.

The pigs have been polite to Melvin Ast. They've left his crops alone, but Ast said they haven't been so considerate of some of his fellow farmers' milo fields.

"They are not a mean pig yet. I've seen them going across the road. You can tell they are domestic pigs, not real wild boars," said Ast, who has seen about 30 together at one time.

Ast figured the pigs were turned loose when hog prices crashed a few years back. The animals have since had babies and gone wild trying to survive.

Gilkey said one of his buddies also shot a 70-pound pig.

"We are trying to do our part to help local farmers out to keep them off their property - and provide a little entertainment for us."

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.