MERTZON, Texas (AP) _ Millions of wild pigs weighing up to 300 pounds have been tearing up crops, trampling fences and eating just about anything in their path in Texas. But now they had better watch their hairy backs.
A state lawmaker is proposing to allow ordinary Texans with rifles and shotguns to shoot the voracious, tusked animals from helicopters.
For years, ranchers in the Lone Star State have hired professional hunters in choppers to thin the hogs’ fast-multiplying ranks. Now state Rep. Sid Miller of the Fort Worth area wants to bring more firepower to the task by issuing permits to sportsmen.
If approved, it could be the first program of its kind in the nation. Some other states, like Gov. Sarah Palin’s Alaska, allow aerial hunting. But that’s only to control predators, such as bears and wolves.
Miller gave assurances the hunting would be closely regulated. Details were scarce on such things as how many hunters would be allowed to take part, and how many hogs they would be permitted to kill.
Many hunters and landowners will probably leave the carcasses in the field, just as they do now. Wild hogs that are gunned down cannot be sold for meat under U.S. agriculture regulations.
Agriculture experts say an estimated 2 million wild hogs are causing $52 million a year in crop damage in Texas.
And the pasture-wrecking porkers are causing trouble well beyond farms. Authorities in Texas are reporting an increase in collisions between hogs and cars, while golf courses and suburbs are increasingly finding turf uprooted by hogs.