AGW v feral hogs v killer bees v kudzu

[dead0man]

Which of these is the biggest problem for the American South.

[White Trash]

Kudzu is easily the most visible. But, the feral hogs are really tearing the place up. I used to guide tours on the barrier islands of the Georgia/Florida coast, and those hogs are wrecking havoc on the islands. They pull up the roots and the plant structures that hold the islands together. Cumberland, St. Simons and Amelia are all shrinking because of them it seems.

[dead0man]

It was an article about the hogs that spawned the idea for the poll.  Those things ain't messing around and nothing seems to stop them.  They are legal to hunt, by anybody, 24/7/365 in several states with no reduction in the numbers.  They have two litters a year, 4-7 piglets per litter with high survival rates....that's a problem when the thing in question can weigh 500lbs and a group of them can tear up an entire farm overnight.

[White Trash]

I knew a feller who lived over in Biloxi that used to hunt hogs in the summer. Says that the huntign was good because no matter how many he took there didn't seem to be a dent in the population. I've considered getting into it myself just to help with protecting the islands, but it seems pretty time consuming.

[Ban my account ffs!]

The combination of the last three are more of a challenge for the south in particular. 

[Antonio the Sixth]

The South still has feral hogs? Wow. America remains full of surprises.

[This account no longer in use.]

Don't know (notherner)

[dead0man]

The South still has feral hogs? Wow. America remains full of surprises.

"still"?  This is a new thing, hence why it's a problem now and wasn't before.  The south is very rural.  Lots and lots of places for hog herds to hide, like hollers and hollow logs.  Hay bales and hedge groves.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The South still has feral hogs? Wow. America remains full of surprises.

"still"?  This is a new thing, hence why it's a problem now and wasn't before.  The south is very rural.  Lots and lots of places for hog herds to hide, like hollers and hollow logs.  Hay bales and hedge groves.

Well, let's say "again" then. AFAIK in most of the West all the animals that can be raised as cattle have been entirely domesticated.

[dead0man]

I"m not sure I understand what you mean by that.  The feral hogs are a mix of European wild hogs and regular old domesticated hogs.  The wild hogs were brought over a long time ago for hunting.  A few escaped, met up with some escaped domestic hogs and started making herds.  Pigs, like horses and cows didn't exist in this hemisphere before the white man came.  The predators that might help (wolves are the only thing native to here that might help that I can think of....mt lions/cougars/whatever would just flee a hog herd) are long gone in the areas that are suffering.

And the American Bison is a cattle in the West that hasn't been domesticated.  Mean somabiches.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I just had no idea there were non-domesticated hogs in the US, that's all. Didn't mean to spark a discussion.

[dead0man]

That's why we're here man! 

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

AGW, assuming it's being used to stand for what it usually stands for, is the biggest long-term problem; the hogs are the biggest acute problem. Voted hogs.

[This account no longer in use.]

In all seriousness, though, I haven't even heard of half of these.

[Ban my account ffs!]

By killer bees, don't you mean Africanized Honey bees?

[Frodo]

You forgot fire ants.  

Although they have worked wonders in checking the population of pythons in the Florida everglades. 

[dead0man]

Oh yeah, fire ants, would have fit perfectly in this list.  The wild boar, in insect form.  Invasive, horrible for the environment, dangerous to humans, hard to fight, only show up in the South.