Feral hogs can damage crops and injure or kill livestock, are quickly becoming a nusience across the state of Missouri.

While the Conservation Department claims there is not a problem with feral hogs for now in northwestern Missouri, there is a problem in other parts of the state,  especially in the southern portion where there is enough cover for the animals.

Listen as Rex Martinson  of the Conservation Department talks about feral hogs at the Missouri State Fair.

[audio:http://www.stjosephpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rex.mp3|titles=Rex Martinson]

The department will trap the feral hogs for farmers and also on public lands.  The trapping is making progress on public land in parts of southern Missouri and in West Central Missouri.

Feral hogs create problems because they  root in the ground with their snouts for food such as roots and insects. They tear deep furrows over broad areas including farmland.

Feral hogs will also destroy eggs and nests for ground-nesting birds such as bobwhite quail and wild turkeys.

Water quality problems occur when feral hogs wallow in farm ponds and streams. In the current drought with low water conditions, problems are magnified as the hogs add additional nutrients and disease agents to the water.

Feral hogs reproduce quickly. They are wary, mean and able in the wild to quickly expand populations. Family groups of feral hogs can cause thousands of dollars in damage to crop fields. They can be aggressive and dangerous towards people.

Feral hogs can also carry diseases transferrable to humans, wildlife and livestock. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has reported several hunters in the Eastern United States contracting a form of swine brucellosis from field dressing feral hogs. Diseases carried by wild pigs that are threats to farm herds include swine brucellosis, pseudorabies, trichinosis and leptospirosis.