Feral Swine Eradication
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Feral swine in the U.S. cause more than $3.4 billion in damage each year, including damage to agricultural landscapes. USDA is making available $35 million for partnerships to respond to the threat of feral swine as part of a broader $105 million investment for the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program. Dana Cole of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says the effort represents a very additive collaboration.
Cole… “ In this eradication and control pilot program, we're doing what we do best, and that is managing feral swine through direct operational control. But where this partnership really is synergistic is that NRCS then, through their notice of funding opportunity, identifies partners in these areas to just directly support landowners in other ways, for example, trap loan programs. So landowners who are busy battling feral swine can participate in the trap loan program offered by NRCS partners and get access to resources and traps to help manage feral swine themselves, which is leveraging the success of our own Wildlife Services program in doing also direct operational support. So they're very additive.”
Partners are invited to apply across fourteen states. Details can be found on the NRCS website.
