Published: June 28, 2008 11:59 pm            

Commission moving swiftly toward eradication goal

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is moving swiftly toward its goal of eradicating wild pigs from the state’s woodlands.

Cal DuBrock, director of the Bureau of Wildlife Management, reported to the commissioners last week that the agency has a plan to use volunteer trappers to augment the efforts of the federal Wildlife Services in trapping feral swine.

In response to a ruling by the state Supreme Court that the game commission is responsible for feral swine, the agency started trying to eliminate them. But Wildlife Services, which has conducted wild pig control for years, cautioned against hunting because of fears that it would cause the animals to disperse to new areas.

Game commission Executive Director Carl Roe was given authority to declare open hunting seasons as part of the control effort.

He did so quickly, but prohibited hunting hogs in Bedford, Butler and Cambria counties, where federal trapping efforts are underway.

But, a lack of people and funds hampers the work.

“We’re hoping that Wildlife Services will make a substantial dent in the area they’re working,” DuBrock said. “But, the problem is they have few staff and just a little money. We have a lot of staff and a little money. But, everyone is committed to doing work on hog control, so if we can enlist volunteers and have them help us, we can help them and provide them with resources.”

DuBrock said the agency looked for volunteers through the Pennsylvania Trappers Association with the idea that the game commission would buy the necessary equipment and outfit the trappers, then either provide bait or reimburse the trappers for its cost.

“They would basically volunteer their time,” he said. “They would be required to do certain things – to report any take, to collect samples. We want specific location information, information on numbers, blood samples and tissue samples to check for disease. But, they can keep the hogs. So, there would be some benefit.”

DuBrock said the game commission is looking for volunteers who live in areas occupied by feral swine.

“The idea is we would run some type of training session for the participants where we would basically cover the dos and don’ts of hog trapping as best that we understand them, provide them with the material that they need and also a permit issued by the agency that would allow them to legally carry out those activities, and provide information on how to report their activities and their successes,” he said.

DuBrock said the project has been delayed while the game commission waited for information from Wildlife Services on trap construction. Schematics came on Monday, he said, and things are ready to move forward.

“We’d like to get this thing up and running as soon as possible,” he said. “Wildlife Services is already out there on the ground, but I’m sure we have areas within the counties they’re not able to get to. At the same time, Bradford County – we’re quite sure we have a breeding population there, but Wildlife Services is not operating in that area of the state. We’d like to get some folks on the ground up there as well.”

DuBrock said hog trapping will be difficult, and has to be done right to catch as many hogs as possible without educating the survivors.

He also conceded that the effort may fall short of complete success.

“The animals are really smart,” he said. “They’re very mobile. They learn quickly. So, it has been a challenge. I am not aware of any state that has been successful in eradicating swine once they’ve been established, but we’ve got to try.

“I’m concerned we are going to have a chronic problem with hogs,” he added. “If we can eradicate them, that’s really the goal. But, we’ve got to be realistic.”

        

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