Kansas farmers raising concerns over possible feral hogs sightings

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Some Kansans have seen feral hogs roaming around parts of the state. A Garden Plain police officer posted a video of the animals to their Facebook after the department got reports of people seeing the hogs. The department said a USDA wildlife agent was immediately notified.

On Saturday, 12 News received more pictures of what a viewer believed to be feral hogs near Lake Afton.

Farmers in the area north of Garden Plain say they’ve dealt with feral hogs on their property before and they’re hoping it won’t become a major problem.

“Keep your eyes out, we hope they don’t come in the area,” Jeff Winter, a farmer in Mount Hope, said. “They’re to the south and we’ve heard them moving up.”

Jeff says the feral hogs caused damage to his soybean field, where he believes the hogs trampled through the crops. He says when this happened, the USDA established a neighborhood watch and if any feral hogs were spotted, the goal was to trap them.

Jeff also said the state of Kansas has a “zero tolerance” policy against feral hogs because of how much damage they can cause.

“What Kansas doesn’t want is any feral hogs,” Winter said. “Hog populations can increase.”

The American Farm Bureau federation said feral hogs have caused more than 2.5 billion dollars in damages to agriculture, livestock and the environment.

“Feral hogs can be very, very damaging to crop land, to range land, to private property,” Winter said. “They can really hurt crops and personal property very quickly.”

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