Last week, lawmakers in Arkansas heard a pitch from a company promoting a new product to help control the feral pig population in this state. And for anybody who spends time outdoors in Arkansas—hunting, hiking, biking, camping—you know the state has a problem.
Wild hogs will tear up a pasture in one night, then be off to another ZIP code before they can be caught. No telling the damage they’re doing to the quail population. For anybody who’s watched a old boar walk through the woods, you know he can do great harm if annoyed.
Bottom line: These things are not just an inconvenience. They’re a hazard.
But this company, makers of Kaput Feral Hog Bait, want to start poisoning the things. Which brings up all kinds of questions:
How do you keep bears and deer and squirrels from eating the bait? And what happens if a person shoots a hog right after it’s eaten the bait? (And before the meat turns blue from the poison!!!) What about scavengers that might eat the meat of a dead hog no matter what the color of the bacon?
We trust the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission with a lot, with reason. Its experts seem to want to slow down anything like mass poisoning until we know more about its effects.
That’s a good idea. Let’s talk this one out.