Menacing hogs shot down at Congaree National Park. Here’s how many
Government sharpshooters have killed 18 hogs that posed potential threats to visitors at Congaree National Park, a wildlife preserve near Columbia that has had trouble with destructive pigs through the years.
Main visitor areas at the national park closed for 24 hours Wednesday afternoon so federal wildlife managers could shoot hogs with high-powered rifles. The government took out hogs that have been seen recently near the park’s visitors’ center and the main trails.
The hogs appeared to have become used to visitors, causing national park staff to worry that the behavior “could lead to visitors being injured,’’ the park said in a news release.
The release said the hog-killing effort was “conducted due to recent reports and observations of increased feral hog activity in areas that see heavy visitation on a regular basis.’’
Jon Manchester, chief of visitor services at the park, said Congaree had gotten reports recently of hogs failing to move away from people on trails near the Harry Hampton Visitor Center. In one case, park staffers who were driving a small vehicle down a trail encountered a hog that blocked the way, he said in an interview.
“A hog was just standing in the middle of the trail and did not want to move,’’ he said. “Eventually, they were able to get it off, but that’s not normal. In other places, there were just pigs browsing along the trail. They don’t move.’’
Feral hogs often have tusks and could be dangerous if they attack a person. The biggest concerns are females with piglets, he said.
Manchester said Friday that park officials believe the sharpshooting effort has eliminated the hogs that were causing trouble near the visitors’ center trails and boardwalk.
“They did get the ones they were specifically going after,’’ Manchester said, noting that the pig that had blocked the trail was among those taken out. “There should not be any hog activity that is right up on the trails, right at this point. If people notice anything, let us know and we’ll make note of it.’’
The work occurred Wednesday night and Thursday before the park’s visitors’ center and nearby trails reopened at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Manchester said there generally appears to be more hog activity in the area around the national park in eastern Richland County this fall. He wasn’t sure why, but said hogs often are active in the autumn as they feast on nuts that have dropped from trees.
The hog removal effort this past week wasn’t the first time the government has taken such action at the national park. The park estimated last year that it had taken out about 1,000 porkers since 2015.
Part of the hog-control effort results from trapping hogs in the park, but special hunts also are employed, Manchester said.
Since October, the government has hunted down a total of 66 hogs in the park, he said. During the last fiscal year, more than 200 hogs were killed as part of the effort to keep the population in check, he said.
Wild pigs are considered a problem in many parts of South Carolina, as well as the natonal park. Prolific breeders, they destroy important plants by rooting up the forest floor in search of food. They also can devour crops being grown by farmers.
Feral hogs are the descendants of once domestic animals that either escaped hundreds of years ago from farms or were put on the landscape more recently by unsavory sportsmen to hunt.
South Carolina has an estimated 150,000 feral hogs roaming the countryside in its 46 counties, state wildlife officials have estimated.
This story is an updated version of a story written earlier this week.
