(The Center Square) – As if hurricanes and insects are not enough, Georgia farmers have another nuisance that walks on four legs.
Feral hogs cost farmers an estimated $150 million in damage annually, according to the Georgia Department of Agriculture. At 600,000, there are more feral hogs in the state than there are people in the Atlanta city limits, which is just over 532,000.
The animals are in all of the state’s 159 counties. They can destroy crops and spread diseases. Getting rid of them is a problem that several state agencies are tackling.
Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper created a task force, including his department, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Georgia Association of Conservation Districts, and the University of Georgia, to address the problem in 2023. The group has started a trapping program.
But it’s still hard to shoo the wild pigs away. Swine produce a large quantity of offspring. They also will eat almost anything.
The Georgia House and Senate have included funding in the fiscal year 2026 that would address the problem in their budget.
The House is proposing $500,000 for more traps.
The Senate wants a leaner cut — just $100,000 for a program that would reward hunters who capture the swine. The Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources tried a similar program from 2014-2016.
A forum posting on Georgia Outdoor News indicated that while 15,000 hunters signed up, only 10 farmers and landowners did.
“While sport hunting of feral hogs has become a popular recreational activity, it rarely is an effective tool for managing feral hog populations and damage caused by feral hogs,” the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said on its website.
Twelve states have eliminated feral hogs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But the population continues to explode. Maps depicting the growth from 1982 to 2024 show that the swine population was previously contained in the southernmost Georgia counties. The most recent population map covers most of the Southeast.
Lawmakers will decide this week how much money will go toward catching the pigs as they negotiate the budget. The session ends on Friday.
This article was originally published at www.thecentersquare.com
