Feral pigs ate my taro

[metalfan]

I can't believe that after almost 8 years the pigs decided to eat my taro.

Its not like it hasn;t always been here, each stand carefully cultivated.

We aren;t talking plain old green Colocasia escuelenta either. We're talking special hybrids, like Elena, LimeAde, Mojito, Black Marble, Dark Star, Royal Hilo, Diamond Head, Milky Way, Tiger Stripe, Yellow Splash....also old school plants like Black Princess (BLack Magic), fontanesii, Chicago Harlequin, antiquorun Illustirs etc etc....

I am personally as aome of you know a long standing vegetarian. But anyone who wants to come kick some porcine a$$ is welcome.

HOW CAN I CONTROL THERE PIGS???????

[Dypsisdean]

After just confronting a bout with some pigs, I understand the feeling. After many years with no problems, they started eating our Ti plants, sweet potoatoes, aroids, and even some small palms. They are smart, fast, strong, and hard to deal with. I hired this guy, the Pig Whisperer in Kona, and he set a trap. Here's a video of one of his successful traps.

But we had no luck and he took the trap back. So I built my own and set it up with no luck. We only had a chance to see the culprit (about a hundred pounder) 2 or 3 times. And even if I had a rifle, it would have been hard to shoot him. As soon as he heard or smelled me, even from a considerable distance, he was gone.

Eventually we had our neighbor with pig hunting dogs track him down in the forest and killed him. Apparently they got the right one because there have been no more visits. And the other neighbor's dogs got a baby one day, trapped in their yard. But one thing for sure, they don't forget where they found something good to eat, so unfortunately you are probably on their feeding route now, and they may bring friends. Or worse, they may have their next batch of babies close by, fast growing and hungry.

But be careful. They can be very mean, and are super strong. You will see that from the video. And that one is not all that big.

[metalfan]

We've been dealing with them on one plane or another for years. The mamas are huge...they are at least 250-300lbs and their litters consist of 8-12 piglets twice a year, that's a whole lot of porker going on. They have been terrorizing the adjacent neighborhoods that fall under the aegis of Neighborhood Associations for years, but have largely left us 'independents' alone. No more. They are here are have added us to their hit list. I am at a loss. Maybe I should get an AK47 assault rifle and shoot their butts...the neighbor does. But I am not certain I can actually do that, over some plants. I mean its a living creature, no matter how nasty and disgusting, right????

[Alicehunter2000]

And to think I'm always looking for a place to hunt them. I do feel bad that you are losing your collection of Taro's ...sounds like you got some cool looking ones. I just purchased the Black Princess and Black Stem yesterday over in Crawfordville (below Tallahassee near the coast)...talk about some prime Florida Hog hunting. Anyway, the only thing I know is to shoot them...unless you can get the "Pig Whisperer" to come over from Kona.....Cool video BTW. Good luck....if I'm down around G-ville I would be happy to bring my AK and take care of your problem

[Dypsisdean]

  On 6/12/2010 at 1:09 AM, metalfan said:

Maybe I should get an AK47 assault rifle and shoot their butts...the neighbor does. But I am not certain I can actually do that, over some plants. I mean its a living creature, no matter how nasty and disgusting, right????

I haven't eaten any meat from a mammal in over 40 years, in part because I wouldn't take any pleasure in killing and preparing it on my own. But after a few prize Ti plants, aroids, and a couple of fresh suckers from some special palms disappeared, I have no trouble choosing. There are plenty of locals here who would love to cook them in an imu (underground pit) and have a great luau. So it's all part of the circle of life. Take your pick, saving endangered plants, or not so endangered pigs - who can carry quite a few diseases that can affect humans.

Now killing them and dumping them at the land fill is another story.

[tropicbreeze]

I had a lot of trouble with feral pigs for years. They'd hit over a period and then disappear for a while. Seemed as though if they were way out bush when the dry season set in they'd stay out there near water. If they were close when the dry started they'd stay around because where's there's people there'd be water. I shot a number of them but there were several groups and more would come around, sometimes up to about 20 individuals in one night.

I built a trap. Before putting the trap door on I baited it with a line of ripe mangos leading into it. I replaced the eaten mangos for a few days then set up the trap door. That night the mangos were eaten just inside the door but no further. The pig must have sensed the trap was set. It would never go in far enough to trigger the trap.

Tried soaking bread in vodka hoping the pig might get drunk and make an easier target. But a dog ate the bread and then wouldn't leave.

The final solution was putting up an electric fence powered by a solar panel. Had to have it low enough for kangaroos to jump over but too high for pigs. It's worked really well for nearly 3 years now. I have a creek and a swamp on my place which makes it impossible to completely fence adequately, so the electric fence is around the main garden/house area.

Pigs are environmental disasters where the landscape never previously had any animals of similar habits. They degrade waterways killing off a lot of aquatic life. They also destroy plant habitats and cause species extinction.

I'm not a vegetarian, I eat very little meat, but I still eat it. But I'd never eat pig meat that was killed in a settled area inhabited by people. Animals die and the owners don't know how to dispose of a large carcase other than to dump it in the bush. It becomes food for pigs, dingos and other scavengers. There's also road kills that pigs will feed on. Pigs in those areas are most likely carrying a wide range of diseases.

[DoomsDave]

Kill 'em all.

The pigs in Hawaii and Florida, that is.

Eat well thrive.

[metalfan]

We've had a young man come and try to bow hunt them before. He was very scientific about it. He set up a corn feeder in toe woods where he saw that they liked to hang out, and got them used to coming out to the feeder. But they would only come at night apparently. Then he set up a night vision camera that got tripped by a wire to see exactly when they were coming and yes it was at night. So he tried to adjust the feeder to gradually get them to adjust their schedules to come at a time when he could be waiting up in a tree in some sort of portable treehouse thingie to shoot them. But they wouldn't do it. Its like you said with the trap, Tropicbreeze...like they knew something was up.

Some of the neighbors set up a big trap over across the way in the Barren Lands (gated subdivision with 'supervised' landscaping) and the pigs actually tore it up. Kinda like they were laughing at those guys.

One of the guys who helps maintain my property wants to set up a trap next week and I told him go for it.

We have a creek that flows through our property and we border wetlands also, so this is an area that they really like to hang in.