Feral hogs nose their way into Tulsa
TULSA — Mark Swift isn’t sure what to do at this point, but he knows he doesn’t want his yard to become known as Ground Zero for Tulsa’s feral hog invasion.
It’s confirmed: Feral hogs have found their way inside Tulsa’s city limits. Not far inside, but they sure picked a delicious little spot.
“It just looked like a Rototiller gone crazy in my yard,” said Mark Swift who lives in northwest Tulsa, just about quarter-mile south of Gilcrease Museum and its luscious garden landscape.
It was a surprise for Swift and now, being the first Tulsan to report feral hogs in his yard, he’s just trying to figure out what he should do about it. With a little help, he may have found an answer on Friday, but it didn’t come easy.
Feral hogs are an invasive species, an offspring of pigs brought into the country as a food source by explorers and pioneers. They destroy millions of dollars worth of agriculture land annually.
Swift has a remote trail camera and a deer feeder at the edge of his wooded backyard. His family enjoys watching deer come to the area and taking photos of the wildlife.
But feral hogs are another matter.
“We did enjoy watching them this week and we took some photos,” he said. “At one point the sow was laying on her side and nursing, so that was kind of some neat nature to witness, but, you know, overall this isn’t good. We’re going to need to get rid of them.”
It’s a big problem because feral hogs can be aggressive and dangerous, are always destructive and multiply quickly. The grounds of the Gilcrease are an easy stroll away, not to mention other neighborhood yards just waiting to get “Rototilled.”
The city is not prepared at this time, however, according to Jean Letcher, Tulsa Animal Welfare manager. “As we’ve seen them move up through the country, we have seen other communities have to deal with them, but this is the first report we’ve had in the city of Tulsa,” she said.
Experts say once the hogs find a place where they’re comfortable they’re not likely to move away on their own. Swift’s feeder likely didn’t attract them to the neighborhood, but it did bring them out in the open to be seen — which may be a good thing.
“How do you get rid of them? That’s a good question, and it’s the right question to be asking,” said Russell Stevens, strategic consultation manager and wildlife and range consultant at the Noble Foundation.
Killing the pigs or hauling them to a high-fence hunting operation is the only option, he said.
“I used to like pigs being around, hunting them once in awhile, but I learned my lesson," he said. "They take over everything. They ruin the habitat. You always have to be on the lookout for them and you can’t hunt them enough to get rid of them.”
Seeing these 15 pigs is a sign that more are around. Even if it's a stray group, the 15 can become more than 60 in a year’s time with the three sows able to produce two litters in 12 months and the piglets coming of reproductive age six months later.
Feral hogs have indeed been expanding across Osage County and Oklahoma in the past 20 years, said John T. Manning with the Osage County Conservation District. Not long ago there were two distinct populations in the Osage; one in the western part of the county and one to the north. “Now they’re pretty much everywhere,” he said.
Swift’s home and the museum are in Tulsa city limits but also the southeast corner of Osage County. County district offices across the state are in the beginning stages of a program that may offer to loan or rent hog traps to people in need, but the program is not yet up and running, he said.
Stevens recommended trapping the pigs as the best option. They are already habituated to coming to the corn at the feeding station, which means they probably could become habituated to entering a trap for the food.
“It may be a good chance to do something about them early on,” he said.
“Then what do I do with them once I get them in the trap?” Swift asked.
One option is the state Department of Agriculture’s online feral hog hunter/trapper directory of people who will trap, hunt or are licensed to transport feral hogs for sale to hunting preserves or processing facilities. The web page address for the list is ag.ok.gov/ais/feralswine.
The real solution for Swift will indeed come from the USDA Wildlife Services. Biologist Justin Cooper in the Oklahoma City USDA office said it likely is a situation where the best option is to trap and remove the pigs.