By Jennifer Whitlock
Field Editor
A rider in the FY 2022- 23 state budget will allow Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) to collaborate on an experimental use program evaluating the efficacy of warfarin as a feral hog control method.
“This study allows the agencies to contact landowners and cooperate with them in a limited-use program to test Kaput® Feral Hog Bait for effectiveness,” Harold Stone, Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) associate legislative director, said.
The rider was adopted and included in the TDA budget pattern. It allows TDA to register the Kaput product on the second anniversary of its limited use authorization for research purposes. However, that could happen earlier pending delivery of a positive research report from AgriLife to TDA.
Also included in the rider is a $250,000 per year allocation from the general revenue fund for AgriLife to conduct the two-year study.
There is more support for feral hog control in Texas now that the invasive species has begun encroaching beyond rural lands into suburban and urban areas, Stone noted.
“The rider has been adopted by the conference committee and will have to go back to the House and Senate for approval before the end of the legislative session on Monday,” he said. “However, we don’t anticipate any issues involving budget approval.”
Gov. Greg Abbott does have authority to veto line-item appropriations and riders, but Stone said the governor’s office has been notified by TFB and other landowner groups of their support for the experimental program, leaving Stone optimistic about its final approval.
If the rider makes it through the process, AgriLife will receive funding in September at the start of the new biennium.
Poison in any shape or form is a very bad idea!
We hunt the hell out of them and their good to eat to but the ammi shortage has almost stoped the hunting hunters need more ammo.
Warfarin is a blood thinner. Would this cause the hogs to bleed to death? Of course, it would cause absolutely anything that ate the meat would also bleed to death. I have taken warfarin to prevent blood clots. It has to be monitored in people. I’m not sure this would be the way to do this.
Actually warfarin does not persist in the body after consumption. That’s why humans have to take it on a regular basis. With that fact in mind – there is very little residual warfarin let in a dead hog. In addition, the baited hog will have a blue dye in the fat tissue so there is no mistaking that it ate the bait. Tests showed that scavengers are not negatively impacted by eating a baited pig. EPA required those tests before it was approved for use.
What about the animals & birds which eat the carcasses, won’t they ne affected by the warfarin?
Some sort of birth control?
Pigs are uniquely sensitive to small amounts of warfarin which is why it was selected as the active ingredient in this pesticide. This bait has five times lower concentration than the baits used on rodents. It’s been proven other species can tolerate these small amounts contained in the bait IF they are able to gain access to it. There are even smaller amounts that remain in a pig carcass because Warfarin is metabolized in the pig body so it does not accumulate in large amounts.
I think everyone would like a birth control option for feral hogs but to my knowledge there is not one yet available for use.
Test in Florida please
I am glad that they are finally listening to us instead of the rich hog hunters. We need to be allowed to use this product..
Why is so much attention centered around ending feral pigs? Are HUMANS not an invasive species? If anything, we need to figure out a way to coexist with these beautiful creatures instead of poisoning them. Because, after all, we have the “invasive species”ness in common.
Yes, humans are indeed an invasive species, but unless you can come up with constructive ideas for humanly reducing the human population, I don’t understand your comment. Any species that has been brought from one continent from another has turned out to be “invasive”. I could list many. Hogs have huge litters 3-4 times a year. They are extremely destructive to the farm and ranch communities, as well as rural and now even urban areas. If a small child comes into contact with a group that has come into the yard, there’s a very good chance those hogs will kill and eat that child as well. These cute little animals aren’t the ones you see in the cartoons and zoos. Become informed and become responsible please.
Re..fire ants
FERAL HOGS ARE A TERRIBLE PROBLEM IN SEVERAL STATES, WE HERE IN GEORGIA HAVE EXPERIENCED SERIOUS PROBLEMS IN THE PAST 5 YEARS, THEY ARE COSTING FARMERS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS IN AGRICULTURE DAMAGES! THEY MULTIPLY FASTER THAN WE CAN KILL THEM.
Let the tests begin. In the United States, $1.5 billion dollars in agricultural damage is lost annually due to feral hogs. Wild hogs consume and trample crops such as hay, corn, peanuts, small grains, vegetables, watermelons, soybeans, cotton, and others. They damage pasture by rooting and digging. Feral hogs can damage fences, roads and cause serious damage to dikes.
Pay hunters to get them under control. Ex military and folks. On unemployment paid by the nose.
A simple bounty would do the trick. Adjust the $ paid according to the severity of the hog problem in that area. The Free Market, when left unmolested, works every time. You don’t even need your bloated government to do this. Those most affected would contribute the most towards the bounties.
Naomi
I’ve got an extra 150 hogs in one of my rice fields. Please come get them and put them in your back yard. In perspective, they’re like a 300 pound armadillo that loves to dig.
What happens you hunt these pig and you eat them 🤔
Nothing…Ppl have ate wild hogs for ages..Some ppl supplement their freezers that way and there is no difference betweens the ones you hunt and the pork you buy in store…Ones in stores are pumped full of chemicals…They are just tampering with another food resource…Ppl wouldn’t have to buy it but they don’t want you too..They would be just like China when it comes to hogs…Add it to their resources to profit off them…
What happens when a person harvests and consumes a feral hog after it has been exposed to this drug???
It’s real clear there are folks only seeing the pig and nothing about the destruction to land and crops, but the bigger issue is all the diseases these pigs spread in the environment for deer, cattle and other species.
People on food assistance should use the.salvaged meat to cut the cost of food stamps
As long as they can prove that a hog that eats the bait, but is harvested by a hunter before it dies, is not dangerous, then I’m in favor. These feral hogs are not being targeted because they’re a little nuisance, they come in and destroy millions of dollars in crop land as well as pasture used for grazing. Unless you’ve been involved in the hog problem first hand, there’s no place for commenting against the program.
What a barbaric idea! After losing our beloved miniature dachshund to an accidental poisoning from rat poison I can’t imagine using such a cruel method of extermination. Slowly dying of internal bleeding is a most sadistic invention and a horrible thing to witness. Please consider sterilization or another humane alternative.
Going to take a number of approaches…. (1) FENCING AREAS TO DENI HOG ACCESS.
(2) STERILE THE SOUNDERS…
PUT IT IN THE FOOD (NUCLEAR). (3) TRAPPING ON A MEGA SCALE…2 ACRE TRAPS AND “SPECIAL FEED MIX TO DRAW THEM IN.
I saw an interesting documentary on the origins of warfarin. By the way it is also used as a blood thinner in humans if I’m not mistaken.
Naomi, you are uninformed. Read The Holy Bible, particularly Genesis 1:26. God put man and animals on this Earth and gave Man dominion over all. Humans are not invasive species.
You folks in town don’t understand what these wild hogs do. Pastures and crops look like mine fields and that damages harvesting equipment, if you smooth it out the smell of fresh dirt draws them back to damage it again. These animals eat anything, they’re omnivores so they eat domestic animals and wildlife also. They blow holes in fencing and if you accidentally hit one with a car it’s totaled. They carry diseases transmissible to humans and other animals. They pollute water and tear up stream beds. It’s real easy for you folks unaffected by these hog to cry foul. It doesn’t affect you financially, time wise or by seeing the massive destruction. I’ve even see them dig up human graves. Put a few in your lawn let em kill your dog or cat and dig up things so badly you have a hard time walking without falling down. Then sooth it out and it all starts again. Now they multiply faster than you can trap or shoot them so now you got 25 of them coming to your lawn.
Like I’ve said it’s easy to cry foul when it doesn’t affect you. Incidentally Kaput has been approved safe by the EPA.
Educate yourselves, and experience. You’ll want to get rid of them also.
Take a look at Kaputproducts.com for a brief synopsis of damage / disease,
I would like to know where can I get rid of them after they are killed? I don’t need that much meat and if you are not aware they just plow through a fence without stopping.