Feral hogs rooting up trouble

Texans boasts about a lot of things, and here's one more: Our fair state has the largest population of feral hogs in the country. Are you proud?

Most folks probably don't know much about feral hogs, but they're nasty creatures. According to the Texas Feral Hog Abatement Pilot Project (based at A&M, of course), feral hogs were once domestic hogs that went wild and develop more and more bad habits with each passing generation: They eat wildlife, destroy cropland and have the potential to spread disease. Locally, according to the Chronicle, the hogs ruin golf courses, destroy wetlands, uproot public parks and wreak havoc in people's lawns.

Seems Texas' feral hog population has increased sharply in the last 20 years, mainly because ranchers released hogs on their property so they could hunt them. The hogs ended up surviving — researchers say they can adapt to almost every climate and usually have between eight and 16 piglets a year. The question now is how to deal with them: They can't be shot in every area (such as suburban neighborhoods), and trapping them doesn't always work. Of course, there's always this guy's approach:

Keith McBee, who has been hired several times to bring in his dogs and remove or kill hogs at a county park in Humble, said he can't always shoot a hog when homes are nearby. He carries a backup weapon: a knife.

"All you've got to do is jump in there and start stabbing," he said. "It's pretty Western, I'll tell you."

Bacon, anyone?