A Texas Department of Agriculture rule change that would have allowed the use of a warfarin-based toxicant to control the wild pig population in Texas is now on hold. A judge issued a temporary restraining order late last week to prevent the implementation of the emergency rule.
The order was issued by State District Judge Jan Soifer on March 2.
Wild Boar Meats, LLC, a feral hog processing business headquartered in Hubbard, Texas, asked to suspend the emergency rule that would allow the pesticide, “Kaput Feral Hog Lure,” to be listed specifically for management of wild pig populations and sold to and used by licensed pesticide applicators.
The Texas Hog Hunters Association and the Environmental Defense Fund also submitted legal briefs supporting Wild Boar Meats.
An estimated 2 million wild pigs cause about $52 million in damage to Texas land and agricultural enterprises, according to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.
Roughly 10 percent of feral hogs carry diseases, putting livestock, other wildlife and pets at risk.
Urban areas are also affected by property damage and contamination of water supplies.
Prone to rooting and trampling pastures, the invasive species can destroy a crop. And their ability to adapt and evade depopulation methods can make it difficult to reduce the population size.
So that im clear, a handful of people that are profiting/hobbyists are holding up us ranchers that really have skin in the game from mitigating loss so they can have fun……
Politics and money result in odd bed-fellows.
Good! The life of this poison would spell death to countless wildlife and very possibly to humans. Warfarin is NOT the way to irradiate feral hogs!
Although I want to find a way to rid our place of these critters and the damage they cause to environment and equipment, I do not favor the use of warfarin. The downstream effects in the food chain would put other varmits that feed on dead carcasses at risk. Although I wouldn’t mind if it took out coyotes as well.
Buzzards, Mexican eagles and other omnivores would be at risk that feed off dead carcasses.
There is another product, Sodium Nitrate, that is having wildly successful results in Australia. Yep, same product that is used to cure bacon!!!! Currently being tested in the U.S. with EPA oversight, it does not leave residual toxins in the carcass. It causes oxygen depletion in the hogs, literally putting them to sleep within a couple hours or less. There is concern for a few species that can be affected by direct consumption, but they are few in number,
Since the hogs around us have gone nocturnal, night feeding would be a great solution IMHO. The trick is to disguise the taste, either through encapsulation or other means as hogs do not like the extremely salty taste.
I say expedite the product and get it out there.
Good. It is a bad idea to start with. There are other ways to handle this than put a poison out.
Jan Soifer should have to deal with the dam things for about 60 days and nights. She would be eager for any help possible
The people that stopped it are not having their land and crops destroyed !!!
As i understand it the poison only affects the animal that injected the poison and the wildlife management has cameras to detect any other animal that would eat the poisoned bait and the feeder would close allowing no poison bait to other animals –maybe we all need to do more home work to see how it works
Jan Soifer must be a liberal! One person can make a decision that can destroy your livelihood. I own a commercial pecan orchard who is going to go out of business if some kind of chemical is not used to control these hogs. Hunting is not the answer because their population is growing too fast. We have to remove these liberal judges. Please vote them out.
I had 2 get into my place and it took me 3 weeks to finally trap them. The sow had a liter of babies in that time frame and that is the only way I got them, the little went into the trap and then I called a hop hunter with dogs and caught the other 2 but in the 3 week period they we in my place they rooted up my hay field so now I have to disk and harrow the land to make it hay ready again. They are a complete nuisance to farmers and ranchers.
I don’t agree to poison either. Maybe if everyone cooperates to get rid of these pests, we could succeed. More hog traps??? I agree hunting is not enough.
NO poison!!
Jan Soifer is the north end of a south bound pig. How can a handfull of morons find a democrat judge in Travis County to get this product removed. My family farms rice, corn, milo and wheat on the gulf coast and the hogs are putting us out of business. We have hired helicopters, bought camera system traps and thermal scopes. I will not allow any idiots on the property that claim they can get rid of hogs by hunting with dogs or night hunting. Its a sport to them. Hogs are like mesquitoes and flies. Kill them and let the buzzards eat. As for Jan Soifer, read her bio and your stomach will be churning.
They gave numbers concerning the costs of damage from hogs. I’d be curious to see how much money is brought in because of wild hogs. I know a lot ranchers making money off of hog hunting, and selling trapped hogs. My son and two friends came from Idaho to Hondo to go hog hunting for few days. Took six back with them.
If research has been done on the effects to other animals or if people who consume the meat, I’d sure like to see it before they allow this to happen.
Jan Soifer is obviously ignorant to how big a problem wild hogs are. If she had any sense, or had to personally foot part of the bill for this scourge, she’d rush to tackle this enormous plague in any and every way possible.
Hunting does not work. I got 600 acres that every pasture has at least 40% damage. The pigs have got to be controlled maybe a once a year 90 day period with rest of year no baiting, just to see the effects.
I wonder how many folks criticizing the use of Warfarin have actually read the label for the use on feral hogs. It is quite extensive requiring special feeders and techniques to use. There are also requirements of the user to take care of dead carcasses in a timely manner. Read the label folks.
These feral hogs are hurting producers financially and something must be done as current eradication methods are not coming close to solving the problem. Is Warfarin the answer? I don’t know but something must be added to the arsenal to fight this problem.
Poison is not the answer! Yes it would kill thousands or hogs but to the detriment if what? Oh! You don’t know? Exactly! You don’t know! It is rediculous to put a poison out there that could kill off all wildlife in contact! Hogs are like a drought! We do not like them because they hit our bottom line, but we can’t go around poisoning everything and not worrying about the consequences! I salute the judge that issued this stay for doing the right thing! Makes me question the sanity of our ag commissioner! I have skin in the game too, make no mistake, but pouring out poison at will is rediculous! Thanks and have a blessed day.
The hog problem in Texas is a show of greed in some ways. When most farmers or ranchers at the coffee shop are complaining about the hog problems that they are having others listen. But when asked if if you could hunt and reduce numbers the cash register rings The next comment is. Well I’ll have to charge you to hunt hogs. I’m not sure but one would think that there is crop insurance coming into play as well.
My two cents worth are worth two cents but there are ways to help yourself as well as others in this case.
Yep . A lot of people just don’t know the facts.
Maybe some of you that are against it might would like to make a donation to me because I lost over $20,000 last year due the hogs. Some of my fields were unharvestable. I bet if some of you lost that much out of your pay check you would think again
Robert. Can I ask a serious question? Would you allow someone who is a skilled hunter and shooter to come on your property for a week and kill as many as possible? I know of people including myself who would do this for free using our own resources. I don’t know where you live, but in the hill country you can’t hardly find anyone who will let you come help them with the hog problem they have without charging the hunter for it. Would you allow that? Honest question…
Yep. Some people just don’t have the knowledge to make an intelligent comment. It’s been tested and studied for years. It dissipates so fast that other animals won’t be harmed even if they ate the whole hog. I lost over $20,000 last year due to them. I bet
if the ones against it lost that much out of their paycheck they would have a different opinions……
For what it’s worth I have a farm in marble falls, and I kill and eat the hogs. I think that if farmers and ranchers took a proactive approach trapping and shooting the hogs, there wouldn’t be as big an issue. Nobody wants to do anything until they’re out of control. So to the gentleman who commented about hobbiests who didn’t have any skin in the game this is not completely the case. I am against the poison
Can’t we just trap them in huge live traps and turn them into bacon????
It is not that simple. Hogs become trap shy very easily. Hunting barely scratches the surface on taking out hogs. The pigs do most of their damage to crops and pastures at night. Do you want someone shooting around your home at night while you are trying to sleep?
I feel for you,Mike Sage. My Son and Grandson hunt the hell out of them in Medina County, Hondo, Texas. They are everywhere. I hope that sodium nitrate cocktail works. Some grain farmers employ a helicopter with shotguns shooting 00buck, but there are just so many hogs, the shooters can’t keep up.. We eat the small sows and leave the big, nasty, stinky boars to the buzzards, nature’s disposal. Let’s hope a solution comes before long. Those damn things are the most resilient, most destructive animal alive today.
Landowners who want to keep a population for sport or fee income for thrill seeking air assaults don’t have to use a control product but don’t restrict others from protecting their property. It’s not just farmland being damaged…. several times a year herds of pigs invade our neighbors and destroy our yards and flowerbeds. Traps aren’t effective and we can’t use firearms within the city.
Has anyone heard of Wild Boar Meats? I have a farm several miles from Hubbard and have never heard of them. Makes me wonder.
I’ve been actively involved in the poisoning issue and the feral hog issue for years. I understand the issues from many angles. After carefully reviewing the latest offering using Warfarin, I can say that I’m against it.The Judge ruled for a stay because the rules weren’t followed like opportunity for public input. TPWD wasn’t included for their input as well. The product label paints a pretty picture but the warnings are a little different. There are safe handling warnings as well as sate disposal regulations for a carcass of a dead hog. It may take three to five days for a slow painful death to occur from internal bleeding. Some say a hog can travel up to thirty miles but, say he just runs over to a neighbors stock tank and gets up in there in a muddy hard to reach area to die as they will go to water. Now, no matter the data about being water soluble and non toxic to other animals or any of the rest of it, bottom line is I’ve got to get someone else’s, poisoned, dead, five hundred plus pound animal out of my tank and then properly dispose of it. Bury it six feet deep they say. So whose’s going to pay for removal and disposal? Sid Miller? Is he going to pay for the civil suits that are to surly come? For these reasons, the cost, regulations, low production rates and liability exposure doesn’t make Kaput a viable option for me. Updates and petition can be found on texashha.com web page.
Warfarin is a ‘persistent toxin’, meaning it remains effective in the animal it kills., thus killing all snimals that feed on carcasses killed by it, if they eat enough of the meat, since it has permeated every part of the body.
Poison isn’t wise.
Being an avid hunter and conservation minded poison to me seems risky and not thought out to justify the means. As has been said they want the hogs gone but when offered help by people willing to hunt them harvesting the meat, the dollar signs come out and a profit margin is calculated. part of this problem has been caused by trapping and introducing the hogs to different areas in order to SELL hunting junkets but the greed over rode the participation rates expected.