Are Wild Pigs Considered Wildlife?

By: Josh Helcel, Extension Associate

Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute

 

 

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are well known for their burgeoning populations and increasing negative impacts on agricultural production, water quality, native wildlife species and their habitat.  While many people actively seek to control populations through abatement efforts, others find recreational value in these animals.  The question posed in the title may at first seem obvious.  How could a group of animals that literally have the word “wild” as part of their name not be classified as wildlife?  In Texas at least, the correct answer may surprise you.

 

Wildlife Value by the Numbers

Over 100 M people participated in and spent over $150 M on “wildlife-associated recreation” activities in 2016¹. These activities included hunting, fishing, birdwatching, outdoor photography and others.  Hunting license and gear sales in 2016 exceeded $25 B alone and nearly 12 M Americans participated in hunting in the same time frame¹. 





Figure 1.  Nearly 12 million Americans averaged over $2,000 each in hunting related expenditures in 2016. (Image Credit: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)

 

Is There Value in Wild Pigs?

In Texas, there is no hunting season or bag limit for wild pigs and they can legally be pursued at night on private property.  Regulated as exotic animals by Texas Parks and Wildlife, these laws are intended to aid in the reduction of wild pig populations currently estimated from 3-5 million in Texas.  Often referred to as “the poor man’s grizzly bear,” wild pigs offer an affordable hunt.  Recognize the double-edged sword here, as some people may place positive value on wild pigs, but they may fall short of seeing the growing agricultural and conservation damage caused by this invasive species.

 

Wildlife Defined

It is important to know whether wild pigs are a wildlife species or not and then make a well-informed decision about the value of wild pigs.  Let’s review three separate definitions for wildlife (Figure 3).

 

Figure 3.  Definitions for the term “wildlife” from (1) Oxford dictionaries, (2) Merriam-Webster

and (3) Duhaime’s Law Dictionary. 



A few phrases stick out from these definitions including the terms “native fauna” as in the first definition, “neither human nor domesticated” from the second definition and “animals living in their natural habitat” from third definition.  Wild pigs are not native to North America. They initially arrived here as domestic farm pigs. They do not live in their natural habitat.  For more information on their origins click here, but based on these three separate definitions wild pigs are simply not wildlife. 

 

Unmarked Exotic Livestock

You may be surprised to learn that wild pigs are actually considered livestock in Texas.  The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) regulates their movement and sale in Texas and classifies all wild pigs as unmarked exotic livestock.  You can read more about how they are legally classified in the Texas Administrative Code, about specific movement / transportation regulations and learn about the approved holding facilities in Texas that will purchase wild pigs.  What this means is that when you have wild pigs on your property you actually have exotic livestock that directly compete with native wildlife for resources.  Under this designation, the landowner owns the wild pigs, provided they can catch and possess them. 

 

Conclusion

Wild pigs are exotic livestock and not wildlife in Texas.  Despite the recreational value of this species to hunters and year round income potential to landowners, wild pigs cause an estimated $1.5 B in the US in annual agricultural damages alone.  While the numerous other negative impacts associated with wild pigs are much harder to quantify monetarily, their net value is negative and comes at the expense of agricultural production, water quality, habitat and native wildlife species.

 

Wild Pig Resources Listed Below are Available at the AgriLife Bookstore

– L-5523 Recognizing Feral Hog Sign
– L-5524 Corral Traps for Capturing Feral Hogs

– L-5525 Box Traps for Capturing Feral Hogs
– L-5526 Placing and Baiting Feral Hog Traps

– L-5527 Door Modifications for Feral Hog Traps

– L-5528 Snaring Feral Hog

– L-5529 Making a Feral Hog Snare

– SP-419 Feral Hogs Impact Ground-nesting Birds

– SP-420 Feral Hog Laws and Regulations

– SP-421 Feral Hogs and Disease Concerns

– SP-422 Feral Hogs and Water Quality in Plum Creek

– SP-423 Feral Hog Transportation Regulations

– L-5533 Using Fences to Exclude Feral Hogs from Wildlife Feeding Stations

– WF-030 Reducing non-target species interference while trapping wild pigs

 

 

Click here for additional resources on wild pigs

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

For educational programming or technical assistance with wild pigs please contact:

Josh Helcel, 512-554-3785, josh.helcel@tamu.edu







 

References Cited

1) "2016 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation National Overview." U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. August 2017. https://wsfrprograms.fws.gov/subpages/nationalsurvey/nat_survey2016.pdf