PD Editorial: Open season on feral pigs?

Drought, wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis … natural disasters besiege California. Now there’s a plague of feral pigs, and one Wine Country lawmaker wants to declare open season on them before they become the next harbingers of the Golden State Apocalypse.

Feral swine are wild cousins of the pigs raised on farms, descended from European and Asian pigs. They’ve been spreading across California and the United States for decades. In Sonoma County, stories of the hairy, tusked beasts running roughshod over farms, wineries and other private property go back more than a decade.

They’re almost perfectly disruptive invasive creatures. They breed prolifically, producing two or three litters per year. They’re also very smart. They learn to hide from humans and to bypass traps.

Packs of wild swine are incredibly destructive. They’ll eat anything from crops and other plants to small mammals, birds and amphibians. When they plow onto farmland, nothing is safe. Even if they don’t go straight for the crops, they uproot them as they dig for grubs or just plow by. Grape vines and fruit trees are vulnerable, too.

Ranchers also must worry. A pack of feral pigs can undermine fence posts, creating a breach through which cows and sheep might escape. California is fortunate that feral cows haven’t become a problem!

The swine also carry diseases. A single pig can host dozens of viruses, bacteria and parasites. They can pass those onto domestic farm animals and some to humans.

And there’s an environmental toll. Feral pigs tear up native ground cover and destroy the homes of native animal species such as ground-nesting birds. Their rooting along rivers and streams can cause erosion and declining water quality.

By one estimate, feral pigs nationwide cause $2.5 billion damage annually.

All of which is more than enough reason for state Sen. Bill Dodd, a Democrat from Napa, to introduce Senate Bill 856. Under Dodd’s bill, if it becomes law, Californians with a valid hunting license could purchase a $15 wild pig validation that allows them to kill feral swine. The price for non-Californians would be $50.

Property owners or their agents and tenants could kill any wild pig caught damaging property or harrying livestock. The bill also would forbid people from releasing a hog, boar, pig or swine into the wild. There’s no need to bolster their numbers.

No one should celebrate if this law passes. Feral pigs are out there because humans set them loose. They have become tusked predators because that is their natural state. Thinning their numbers is a necessity, not a joy.

But necessity it is. Remember, these are invaders, not native animals that evolved as part of the local ecosystem.

Maybe there’s a silver lining. There was a lot of talk heading into 2022 about a looming California bacon shortage after voters approved an animal welfare law. The shortage hasn’t hit, and the price spike has been attributed to inflation. But if bacon does run out, some free-range, wild pork might just fill the gap.

Dodd’s bill is still fresh in the Legislature. His colleagues — even the ones who cry every time at the end of “Babe” and “Charlotte’s Web” — should support it.

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