Pigs! Pigs! Pigs!

[terracore]

We have unprecedented pig damage up in OLE.  We've spoke to some old timers who can't recall so many pigs and so much pig damage going back 30 years.

I speculate it's because the subdivision is having so many lots cleared from the building boom they are more noticeable and damaging, but I'm not a biologist so don't really know.

I've lost track of how many we have trapped and killed over the last year or so.  They've fed a lot of families, including ours and our dogs, but the freezers are full.  But the visible population is still increasing, it's not uncommon for us to see 15 or more at a time.  

What are things like elsewhere?  We're considering investing in electric fencing, but it would be a major undertaking.  If it was just a couple of troublesome pigs like in years past, it would be no problem for us to deal with them, but what is going on now is crazy.   In other states that I've lived, when pests seemed to peak in population like this, some disease came through and knocked them down to almost nothing, so sometimes doing nothing is the best thing.  Thoughts?

[ChunksterK]

I live in central HPP, and we noticed a similar peak in the porcine population last fall and early winter. Sometimes we would see eight or more at a time. My neighbors and I shared terracore's opinion that development had crowded them into smaller areas of good habitat. Then suddenly around the first of this year, we started noticing fewer and fewer. It's been weeks now since we've seen any. The population seems to have crashed, but we don't really know why. If there was some sort of die-off, we haven't seen or smelled any carcasses. Maybe they all moved up to Orchidland.

[Punaperson]

I'm also in the back of OLE, for the last 40 years, and agree that the pig numbers and damage are unprecedented. From having no nearby neighbors, to being surrounded on all four sides, you're right terracore, that every time a lot was dozed, pigs created more trails through mine. What is most disturbing is that at the beginning of ROD, my ohi'as were dying on the road front, and I assumed it was being spread via vehicular traffic. Once the pigs invaded, I saw many more dying along meandering paths. I followed the trails, and all the more recent deaths have signs of pigs rooting and doing severed damage around the base of the trees. It is heartbreaking.

[macuu222]

I'm in lower HPP. Feral pigs ripped up "all" 50 of our pineapple plants within the last month or so. They ate the fruit and even chewed on the stems. That's never happened to us since we statred living here 30 years ago.

['elepaio]

+ Need to go underground too Mr. TC...

We " borrowed " angry hunting dogs for a weekend and that was that.

I know this doesn't solve the problem but pigs gone in our microhood. 2 lots at least either side. Worked in two different subdivisions.

[Obie]

I had 50 Pineapple plants destroyed too. Lower Makuu also.

['elepaio]

So ( as per thread ) wadjahdo Mr. Obie ?

[d96778]

We’re in Shores and there seemed to be an explosion of pigs here too. Hubby ran a Hotwire along the back of our lot which was where they were coming in, and after hearing lots of loud squeals & grunts from pigs touching the Hotwire & getting zapped on the nose for several days & evenings…no more pigs! They are pretty smart & fast learners & so far, they haven’t come back

Dee

[Obie]

"So ( as per thread ) wadjahdo Mr. Obie ?"

Nothing, after my pineapples were gone there was nothing for them to eat or rip up.

[Durian Fiend]

I remember reading and being puzzled by National Park Service concerns about feral pigs killing native hapuu because there has never been any evidence of this at my place. At least, not for my first 25 years. In the last three years the pigs have been on a rampage, killing every damn one of my hapuu. They all must die, by any means whatsoever.