Feral Swine Eradication Program Should Be Permanent, Senators Urge
U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) introduced the Feral Swine Eradication Act on May 16, which would extend and make permanent a pilot program to safeguard public health, agriculture and local ecosystems against the threat of feral swine.
“Feral hogs have caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage across the state of Texas, and we need to use every tool at our disposal to combat this widespread problem,” Sen. Cornyn said in a release. “This pilot program has successfully reduced the amount of feral swine across the country, and making it permanent would allow us to build on its progress.”
There are approximately 6 million feral hogs across the U.S., which cause more than $1.5 billion in damages each year. The Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program (FSCP) was established in the 2018 Farm Bill to respond to rampant feral swine outbreaks and was implemented by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Animal and Plant Health and Inspection Service (APHIS). This program included feral swine removal by APHIS, restoration efforts supported by NRCS, and assistance to producers for feral swine control through grants with non-federal partners. NRCS and APHIS successfully carried out these pilot projects in 10 states.
“In my home state of Georgia, feral swine cause an estimated $150 million a year in economic damages,” Sen. Reverend Warnock said in a release. “The Feral Swine Eradication Act will empower Georgia counties to continue to protect agriculture, property, and even people from this invasive species. I’m proud to work in a bipartisan manner with my colleague Senator Cornyn on this important legislation to protect Georgia’s agriculture economy.”
Feral hogs destroy crops, land, and undo months, if not years, of work by our farmers to feed our country, explained Sen. Tuberville in a release.
“Over the past five years, feral swine have impacted more than 173,000 acres in Alabama," Sen. Tuberville said. "Yet, the pigs are still running rampant throughout the south. And so today, I’m standing with Alabama farmers and taking action to fight back against this threat.”
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