Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute aims to empower landowners, municipal leaders with solutions
Experts with the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute, NRI, are working to connect Texans with the resources and expertise necessary to address the growing challenge of feral hog management across the state’s rapidly changing landscape.
Manage feral hogs across a changing landscape
Learn more about the options available to assist landowners and municipalities in managing feral hogs and mitigating their damage across suburban/urban communities.
“As metropolitan areas continue to push into what were once rural working lands, feral hog encounters and their incursions into developed areas will only continue to increase,” said Jay Long, project coordinator for the NRI Wild Pig Management Program.
Long and others with NRI recently published Managing Feral Pigs on Small Acreage Properties and Metropolitan Areas, specifically geared toward helping landowners and community leaders navigate challenges and find solutions for feral hog management across smaller parcels and urbanized landscapes.
Changing land trends see rural pest shift to urban intruder
Texas is home to eight of the 15 fastest-growing cities in the U.S. and has seen its population grow from 19 million to 29 million over the past 20 years, with no signs of slowing down.
Over the past decade, feral hogs emerged as a concern along the suburban boundaries of cities like Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.
With an estimated population of 2.6 million feral hogs, control of this invasive species has been a challenge across the state’s rural and agricultural landscapes. The management limitations that accompany suburban and metropolitan properties make controlling feral hogs or limiting their damage even more difficult.
Feral hogs are no longer strictly a “rural issue,” Long said.
“With the change in population and land use, we’re seeing more individuals who have little to no experience with feral hogs, as well as limitations to management practices we can employ due to city and county codes or homeowners association rules,” Long said. “We’re focused on an adaptive, science-backed approach that incorporates landowners and municipalities to meet localized challenges.”
