JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Feral hogs are a menace in parts of Missouri, so federal officials are taking to the skies to combat the wild animal that can destroy multiple acres of farmland in a single feeding frenzy.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that a team with the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service shot and killed 103 feral hogs this past week from a helicopter. Ninety-three hogs were on federal wilderness in southeast Missouri’s Iron and Madison counties, and the other 10 on private land, killed with the owners’ permission.
Most of Missouri’s feral hog population is south of Interstate 44. The problem is most persistent in southeast Missouri.
The Missouri Department of Conservation, other agencies and private landowners killed 7,339 hogs through September of this year, 778 more than in 2017.
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