Texas Judge Says No To Poisoning Wild Pigs

AUSTIN, TX — The state's latest tactic in curbing the excessive wild pig population — poisoning the onerous critters — is now a no-go following a temporary restraining order by a state judge in Austin that has, at least temporarily, halted the measure.

District Judge Jan Soifer on Thursday suspended the emergency measure to locate big bins filled with Kaput Feral Hog Bait throughout the state's rural sections where feral hogs have become a nuisance. Prolific breeders, wild pigs are something of scourge for farmers and ranchers given their destructive marauding paths leading to the destruction of property and crops.

Texas Agricultural Commissioner Sid Miller previously proposed the poisoning option as the latest effort to curb the prolific porcine population now numbering in the millions. The Kaput Feral Hog solution contains wayfarin, used as a blood thinner for human but as lethal poison for rats in greater strength. Miller's plan involved the strategic location of heavy bins in areas of pig concentration, with lids that only a wild hog could manage to remove.

Related story: Texas Agriculture Commissioner's Approval Of Poison To End 'Hog Apocalypse' Gains Detractors

But there were some problems with this plan. For one thing, the lids don't exist yet, and Miller planned to find a bidder to create them. More worrisome was the runoff of poison during each gorging that could end up on reservoirs and waterways upon each dining (after all, one wouldn't expect a pig to clean up after himself and pick up fallen poison from the ground after ingesting some of it).

The plan drew immediate backlash. Within hours of its announcement, a trade group comprising wild pig hunters (yes, it's a thing) named the Texas Hog Hunters Association circulated a petition opposing the measure that quickly garnered hundreds of signatures. Among the concerns shared by the hunters is that once poisoned, the pigs' meat was useless for consumption, making it impossible to sell.

That worry was at the crux of the restraining order on Thursday. Hubbard-based Wild Boar Meats, which buys live and dead hogs for processing to sell meat to the pet food industry, successfully argued about the worthless nature of the pig meat post-poisoning, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

The owner of the meat processor, Will Herring, told the newspaper his year-old company processed as many as 5,000 hogs in February alone. But: “The problem is we haven’t discovered any way through freezing or heating to kill the warfarin in the meat of the animal,” he told the newspaper. “This could potentially kill the industry. My customers want to make sure there’s no rat poison in the meat that we’re turning into pet food.”

That aforementioned Texas Hog Hunters Association and the Environmental Defense Fund both filed legal briefs in securing the restraining order.

So it appears it's back to the drawing board in solving the wild boar problem, and the pesky porcine may live to see another day — unless they're downed by hunters in helicopters, with the aid of dog packs or fueled with financial incentives per kill on an unlimited bounty given other measures aimed at eradication.

But because a poisoned piggy can't go to market, the wayfarin plan has been deemed a wayward one. But stay tuned, as this pig-versus-man battle is far from over.

Patch will stay on top of this developing story, and will try not to boar you with too many details.

>>> >>> Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters