A recent survey finds feral hogs are wreaking havoc on farms in southwest Georgia. Total damage estimates are over $80 million-dollars.

Feral pigs are widespread across the entire state, but the survey focused on farmer in 41 Southwest Georgia counties. Respondents said damage includes crops, gardens, landscapes and fencing.

University of Georgia Wildlife Specialist Mike Mengac headed up the survey and presented the results to the Georgia Farm Bureau. He says feral hogs have been in Georgia since Hernando de Soto came in the 1500’s.

“In the Depression people released them when they abandoned their farms and moved to the cities. In the mountains people used to let their hogs run wild and forage and some would just become wild. They’d never be recovered and never come back home again.”

Mengac says the best way to control them is to hunt or trap them. Feral pigs can have two litters a year with an average of six to eight piglets.

Tags: University of Georgia, Georgia agriculture, GPB, Josephine Bennett, Georgia Farm Bureau, Feral Hogs, Mike Mengac