Bluestem Prairie has been keeping an eye on the potential threat of feral pigs in Minnesota since our 2018 post, Too cute: if only Steve Green could have come up with a real defense against feral swine.
Those were the days when bills on Chronic Wasting Disease couldn't get a hearing in Minnesota House committees, but a bill based on research by a representative's grandson about feral swine hunts did. Not that that idea has died, as readers will learn below.
More recently, we've covered the Minnesota DNR capture of four feral Mangalitsa pigs east of Blue Earth, scolding some media outlets for the use of stock photos of feral razorbacks in their coverage of escaped livestock.
In Tuesday's Minnesota Reformer, a March 31 Investigate Midwest piece by Madison McVan, Wild ‘super pigs’ are rooting toward Minnesota. The state wants to keep them out, has been republished. The piece is showing up in Successful Farming and other venues as well.
We encourage readers to check it out at the Reformer. McVan reports:
Minnesota has long enjoyed its status as a state free of wild pigs, avoiding the billions of dollars of damages suffered each year by other states from invasive feral swine.
Now, Canadian “super pigs” are threatening the state, and pork producers and regulators are concerned about the destruction and disease the animals could bring if they were to establish a population in Minnesota. . . .
A bill introduced in the Minnesota House of Representatives is drawing some attention to the issue. House File 2387 would make it illegal to possess Eurasian wild boars in captivity. Currently, possession of wild boars for commercial purposes, like hunting, is only allowed with a permit from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
It also would require the Minnesota DNR to prepare a report for the legislature outlining recommendations for management of feral swine.
The Minnesota Pork Producers Association testified in support of the bill. . , ,
There's an update to that information. On March 29, Session Daily's Margaret Stevens reported in Omnibus ag bill proposes $100 million increase in broadband spending, expansion of processing capacity that "HF2387 (Hansen)" was incorporated into the omnibus bill.
Stevens reported on March 30 that a Divided ag committee OK’s omnibus bill addressing animal health, pesticides, broadband.
The bill was heard on March 21 in the House Agriculture and Environment Committees, given the jurisdiction of the Agriculture Committee over the Board of Animal Health and the Department of Agriculture, and the oversight of the Environment and Natural Resources committee over the Department of Natural Resources.
The Agriculture Committee hearing, in which minority lead Paul Anderson, R-Starbuck, leads off committee member discussion by wondering aloud about starting a feral hogs season in Minnesota since a friend of his enjoys going to Texas to hunt wild pigs (shades of the 2018 hearing). Never mind what the Pork Producers say.
The Environment and Natural Resources Committee hearing:
Related posts
- Minnesota DNR captures four feral Mangalitsa pigs east of Blue Earth
- Too cute: if only Steve Green could have come up with a real defense against feral swine
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