Ecology, Conservation and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries

Part III: Conservation and Management

300

these animals sprang the sometimes immense herds that sustained

a number of early Spanish explorers on their journeys throughout

the mainland. These expeditions were followed by many other

Spanish, English, and French explorers and colonists who also

brought pigs to the mainland. The escaped pigs from these various

expeditions and settlements went wild and rapidly became estab-

lished in a variety of areas. These feral pigs proved to be a favourite

game animal for the Native American hunters (Crosby 1972). In

his exploration of the American Southwest, Francisco Vásquez

de Coronado encountered Indians who had been hunting and

exploiting wild pigs as a food resource since well before his arrival

(Zadik 2005), indicating that pigs spread faster than conquista-

dors and explorers. In the mid-1560s, two ultimately failed French

colonies in north-eastern Florida attributed the fact that they did

not die of starvation to the pork that was provided to them by the

local Native Americans who were hunting the already established

wild pigs in that area (Mayer & Brisbin 2008, 2009).

Among the domestic livestock being raised in the early set-

tlements in the European colonies in North America, pigs were

among the most common (Towne & Wentworth 1950; Zadik

2005). Again, the free-ranging of domestic swine was a widely

practised husbandry method employed in the colonies. In fact,

open range legally existed in most US states until the mid-1900s.

Often, these free-ranging domestic swine went wild. Combined

with the escaped stock from the earlier expeditions, these animals

established the early populations of wild pigs throughout the

eastern and south-western USA (Mayer & Brisbin 2008, 2009).

Beginning in the late 1800s, Eurasian wild boar were intro-

duced into several areas of the USA to provide a new hunt-

able big game species for wealthy sportsmen. Most of the

initial introductions were into private fenced hunting preserves

(e.g. Corbin’s Park, NH; Litchfield Park, NY; Hooper Bald, NC).

Many were followed by secondary introductions into other loca-

tions. A number of these later releases were made into unfenced

areas. In other instances, the wild boar were able to break out of

and escape the fenced enclosures where they were being main-

tained. In locations where feral pigs were already established,

interbreeding between the two forms readily occurred, further

compounding the taxonomic composition of the wild pigs

found in those areas (Mayer & Brisbin 2008).

Since 1990 the wild pig populations in the USA have

increased significantly both in the numbers present as well as the

areas where these pigs have been found (Mayer & Brisbin 2009).

In the last decade and a half, wild pigs have been reported as

being present (in some cases only temporarily) in a total of 47 of

the 49 continental US states, the exceptions being Rhode Island

and Wyoming. With the exception of a small amount of natu-

ral range expansion, this increase has been largely man-made,

being comprised of illegal translocations in numerous areas

and releases as well as escaped pigs from commercial fenced

Domestication

Eurasian

Wild Boar

Domestic

Swine

Eurasia

North America

Feralization

The Three

General Types

of Wild Pigs

Presently

Found in

North America

Feral

Hog

Hybrids

Eurasian

X Wild Boar

Figure 28.1 Simple taxonomic

phylogeny of the introduced wild pigs

(Sus scrofa) found in North America.

Within this phylogeny, ‘feral pigs’ are

defined as wild pigs that are solely of

domestic ancestry.

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