Anybody with any business in rural Arkansas--and not just rural Arkansas--has a problem. It comes on four legs, squeals when stuck, and reproduces like mad. The feral hog population isn't just an inconvenience anymore. They're not just knocking down deer feeders and trampling quail habitat. These beasts are taking over.
If you've never seen the damage 20 head of hogs can do, imagine a giant garden tiller. Imagine, back in the spring, you spent your time and money planting, say, a tomato garden. And just as the tomatoes turn red, the giant garden tiller strikes in the night. The next morning, just like that, you have no garden, no tomatoes, nothing to show for your work.
Arkansas' Newspaper reported yet another feral hog disaster the other day:
A food pantry in southwest Arkansas had planned to hold a corn harvest Monday and Tuesday of this week. More than 100 volunteers were going to a two-acre plot of ground near Texarkana to pick the corn. The corn was to be distributed to several thousand families in the area. Organizers hoped to get tens of thousands of pounds of corn.
But on Sunday, the man who owned the field called the pantry. Everything was called off.
"We are saddened to report the corn field we were supposed to harvest . . . was destroyed by wild hogs over the weekend," the organizers posted on social media. "We want to thank everyone who has offered to help."
And it's not just food lost. The harvest would have helped the food bank financially because it'll cost thousands of dollars to replace the corn.
What's the answer to this problem? We are happy and gratified to be able to answer that question: We don't know. The Game and Fish Commission has already removed nearly all obstacles and limits to shooting the beasts. But the population continues to grow.
And those in rural Arkansas, and not just rural Arkansas, wake up many mornings to the damage of the giant tiller.
Editorial on 06/29/2018