THIS IS TOTALLY FUCKED UP!!! They escape, breed, destroy, but can't be hunted?!!

#FeralSwine in #NewHampshire
Information on Feral Swine and Management Strategies

"Since their introduction to North America, #WildPigs have become one of the more serious wildlife problems in the United States. A confirmed feral swine population in New Hampshire, primarily in #Grafton, #Sullivan and #Cheshire Counties, presents a unique management challenge.

"In most states, feral swine are considered an invasive or exotic species. Natural range expansion and illegal introductions, coupled with the extreme adaptability of feral swine, fuel the continued spread of this destructive animal.

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture/APHIS-Wildlife Services (WS) is a good resource for landowners who may be experiencing property and or agricultural damage. WS provides partnership-based Federal leadership to help resolve wildlife conflicts through an integrated wildlife damage management (IWDM) approach. The WS New Hampshire Program also participates in the WS National Wildlife Disease Program’s feral swine disease surveillance and monitoring efforts

Can Feral Swine be Hunted in New Hampshire?

"Feral swine have no legal game status in New Hampshire, but are considered escaped private property and may only be hunted with permission of the property owner. Since 1949, feral swine have been defined in the state as animals 'Running at Large' under RSA 467:3. In southwestern New Hampshire, where the vast majority of the state's feral boar exist, they are considered the property of #BlueMountainForestAssociation, a privately owned preserve located in #CroydonNH. Permission is required to hunt free-ranging wild boar that escape from this property. If permission is granted (which it typically is), you will need to have a current regular NH hunting license, and you must hunt within legal hunting hours. Note that feral wild boar are limited in number and are difficult to locate without local knowledge."

Source:
https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/wildlife-and-habitat/nuisance-wildlife/feral-swine-new-hampshire

#RichWeirdoes #MillionairesClub
#InvasiveSpecies #FeralSwine #FeralSwineBomb #FeralHog #CorbinPark

Talk about a hunting lodge for rich weirdoes, who apparently thought bringing over Eurasian #FeralHogs was a good idea?!!!

#Millionaires' Hunt Club
December 29, 2016

"From my very first days as a reporter in #NewHampshire, I started to hear about a place hidden up in the woods of New Hampshire. A place full of unfamiliar animals from other places, but fenced off from the rest of the state, and kept quiet. I never heard about it directly — it was always through a guy who knew a guy, who had been inside — but the more I heard about the place, the more unbelievable it seemed.

"This massive, private park was called a 'millionaires hunt club' and 'the most exclusive #GamePreserve in the United States' and yet there were many people I know who had lived their entire lives in this state, but had never heard of it. So what is the secret of what’s behind that 26-mile fence cutting through the woods of New Hampshire, and why do some people work so hard to keep it a mystery?

"Officially it’s called the #BlueMountainForestAssociation, but everybody who knows about it calls it #CorbinPark. (Seemingly shortened from Corbin’s Park… we’ll get to the origin of the name.) It’s near the border with #Vermont and it’s huge, though its exact size seems to be something of a mystery. Regardless, at somewhere between 24,000 and 26,000 acres this park is actually bigger than something like 60 percent of New Hampshire towns.

"You can find the chain-link fence that encircles the entirety of the park at the end of any number of long rough dirt roads that lead to locked gates. It feels almost like like stumbling across a military base full of UFOs or some similar secret. The fence itself looks sturdy, if slightly weather-worn, and at regular intervals features small signs reprinted hundreds of times, 'the enclosed park fence and signs are protected by a special law of this state and any person trespassing herein or in any way violating that law will be prosecuted.'

"I got my introduction to the park from a man named Brian Meyette, a retired database administrator, who lives in an off-the-grid home, right next to the fence. 'In the fall it’s cool, because you get elk bugling in here,' he said as we walked down his icy driveway, 'I actually even came down here once because I could hear one and it sounded like he was bugling just inside the fence.'

"Elk, in case you didn’t know, are a Western thing. We don’t have them in New Hampshire. Except on the other side of this fence. And that’s not the only thing that’s over there.

" 'Any time people come up here to work or anything, they always say, ‘oh did you see the pigs?’ said Brian, laughing. When he says pigs, he’s referring to Eurasian #WildBoar, imported from Germany into New Hampshire. 'And no,' Brian continued, 'normally you come down here and it’s just you see a bunch of trees, that’s all you ever see.”

"But while you might not see them, there are elk bugling and Eurasian wild boars hustling around behind those fences.

"But why?

"The trouble with finding the answer to that question is that no one inside of Corbin's Park wants to talk about it. Corbin’s Park is a member’s only club. If you are a reporter, and identify yourself as such, not only do the employees of the park not want to talk to you, but the members don't want to talk to you, the people they have invited as guests don't want to talk to you, even some regular folks in town don't want to talk to you."

https://outsideinradio.org/shows/ep27

#RichWeirdoes #MillionairesClub #InvasiveSpecies #FeralHogs #FeralSwine #FeralSwineBomb

So, #PlainfieldNH is not far from #CorbinPark (more about that in the next post)...

Camera in Upper Valley captures apparent sight of #FeralHog

Wildlife officials say they want to track down animal, test it for diseases

Oct 6, 2022 by Hannah Cotter

PLAINFIELD, N.H. — "A resident of New Hampshire's Upper Valley captured video of what appears to be a feral hog in her Plainfield backyard, and wildlife officials are now trying to track it down.

"Experts said feral hogs aren't found in New Hampshire or the surrounding area, so this one might have escaped from someone who relocated it to the state.

"Wildlife experts said #FeralHogs are considered to be escaped private property (!!!) , so without knowing who owns it, it's not legal to shoot it. (!!!)

"David Allaben, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said they can be a nuisance for landowners.

" 'They eat native #wildlife, young fawns, anything they can get a hold of. Turkey nests, #BirdNests, nesting birds on the ground, #turtles, you name it," Allaben said. 'They're opportunistic feeders -- they eat anything.'

"David Allaben said anyone who sees the hog should contact his office so it can be tracked down and tested for disease.

" ;Once we remove them, we take several samples — blood samples, tissue samples,' Allaben said. "We're testing for a whole variety of different diseases, because our fear is if they get in with domestic swine, these backyard pigs and stuff, they can spread whatever disease to that particular animal, and then we have a problem. And that's one reason we want to get them off the landscape as quickly as possible."

"The USDA is working to get permission to track the hog and remove it from the property.

"The homeowner that captured the video said the animal did not damage any of her property, but she's keeping her cameras on just in case it comes back."

Sourcce:
https://www.wmur.com/article/upper-valley-new-hampshire-feral-hog-10622/41548757

#FeralSwine #FeralHogs
#InvasiveSpecies #Agriculture #NativeSpecies #NewHampshire
#EnvironmentalCatastrophe

#NewHampshire has its own source for a ‘feral swine bomb’

by David Brooks | Sep 22, 2020

"Anybody who has raised pigs or visited a pig farm knows that while this animal is smart and cute, they can be destructive and mean and dangerous as all get-out. Wild pigs are even more so, which is why their continued spread in the U.S. and Canada is one of the more alarming of the many alarming invasive-species stories out there.

"This Atlantic magazine article (read it here) calls it a '#FeralSwineBomb' which is a great phrase – all three of its word pack a punch. Feral! Swine!! Bomb!!!

"Years ago, reducing #FeralPig populations hardly seemed worth the money, but today these animals are responsible for an estimated $2.5 billion worth of damage in the U.S. each year—mostly by mowing down farmers’ #crops, as well as attacking calves, lambs, and pregnant livestock, and destroying #NativePlants, animals, and precious habitats. A feral pig can host at least 30 viral and bacterial diseases, along with nearly 40 parasites.

"New Hampshire is the one spot in the Northeast with a feral pig population, and it’s due to #CorbinPark, the 25,000-acre private hunting preserve in Sullivan County. The park was established in the 1890’s and stocked with wild pigs, among other animals. They have continued to breed and occasionally escape the 25-mile-long fence.

"Allowing them to stay there is like allowing outdoor breeding of Asian long-horned beetles or some other invasive that produces horrible economic and environmental damage if it spreads. It’s crazy – and what’s crazier is that because of century-old rules, you can’t even shoot the pigs if they escape because they’re considered private property. I wrote about this in January as part of a failed attempt to require hunting licenses in the park (story here)."

Read more:
https://granitegeek.concordmonitor.com/2020/09/22/n-h-has-its-own-source-for-a-feral-swine-bomb/

#FeralSwine #FeralHogs #InvasiveSpecies #Agriculture #NativeSpecies #EnvironmentalCatastrophe