Residents in Irving are dealing with an invasion of feral hogs that have wreaked havoc on their neighborhood.
In recent weeks, the hogs have been reported roaming the Valley Ranch neighborhood at night, rooting up lawns, ripping out landscaping, overturning trash cans, scattering garbage, and leaving behind a trail of destruction. The wild pigs have also left their mark on the local Barbara Bush Middle School lawn.
One resident, Eric Mendez, told WFAA that a surveillance camera captured as many as 10 hogs rooting through his yard one night.
The animals use their strong snouts and powerful front feet to break up and loosen the soil to locate food and nutrients or to make a wallowing or nesting area. They are considered a harmful invasive species because they can push native species out of delicate environments, attack people and pets, destroy property, and carry diseases, some of which can infect humans, according to National Geographic.
Feral hogs cause an estimated $2.5 billion worth of damage each year in the U.S., according to National Geographic. In Texas, the creatures cause an estimated $400 million in damages each year, per Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.
Although the swine have been spotted in the area for years, their presence has become more intrusive recently, with the animals coming out earlier in the evening and staying later into the morning. Some residents have suggested that increased construction in the area may be driving the hogs further into the residential neighborhood, Fox 4 KDFW reported. Additionally, the wild boar population can increase rapidly if left unchecked.
Sows can produce two litters of six to eight piglets each year.
The City of Irving has hired a wildlife contractor to help resolve the issue but has not stated what specific methods will be used to control the wild boar population. City officials believe the animals may be nesting in a nearby wooded area along Grapevine Creek.
So far, no deaths or injuries have been reported due to these most recent wild hog encounters.
However, in November 2019, a 59-year-old woman was killed by a pack of wild hogs in the front yard of a home in Anahuac, Texas, just east of Houston. In December 2107, three people were killed and two were injured near Uvalde, Texas, when a vehicle collided with a wild hog and then swerved into another car, hitting it head-on.
Other areas in Texas are experiencing a similar problem.
Over the Christmas holidays, the Peach Grove neighborhood in San Antonio was overrun with nighttime porcine visitors. According to one resident, they reportedly tore up all the yards without lit-up decorations.
“On the far end of the street there’s no fences, so they came up the street and went in every yard except the ones that had Christmas decorations and the lights were on,” Lester Allen told KENS 5. “It seemed like they skipped those yards, but they tore up everybody else’s yard on the whole street.”