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VALLEY FALLS, N.Y. — Wildlife officials in New York might ban captive boar hunts as they try to curb a growing feral hog population before it gets as bad as it is in Southern states, where roaming droves have devastated crops and wildlife habitat.
Feral swine are breeding in three counties in central New York, according to a federal study done last year with funding from New York’s Invasive Species Council. The wild population statewide is likely in the hundreds, said Gordon Batcheller, head of the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Bureau of Wildlife. Batcheller said any number is bad because they’re certain to multiply.
Eurasian wild boars have become popular on private hunting ranches throughout the U.S. in recent years.
