"Florida airport roots out packs of marauding wild pigs"

Monday, December 6, 2004

Airport roots out packs of marauding wild pigs 
BY RICK NEALE 
FLORIDA TODAY 


MELBOURNE -- They root throughout the neighborhood at night, shredding lawns
with their hairy snouts to gobble up grubs. 

Packs of wild pigs are pillaging yards in the Fountainhead South
subdivision. The animals emerge from thick brush on adjacent, unfenced
Melbourne Airport Authority land, damaging landscaping and frightening
residents. 

One was Jim Hood, who surprised a 200-pound hog in his side yard after
midnight last month. The burrowing beast scooted past him about 15 feet
away. 

"It looked black, but it could have been red. I just caught a glimpse as it
was running by," Hood said. "I was glad I was on the inside of the fence and
it was outside the fence, because I know how dangerous they are." 

Following a rash of complaints from the Fountainhead Homeowners Association,
the airport authority agreed to a one-year contract with two licensed
trappers to try to thwart the hog onslaught. 

Since Nov. 14, James Dean and Chad Penright have caged and bow-shot 23 feral
pigs -- including a 380-pound brute. 

Dean captured a 180-pound sow Friday morning, "and she was aggressive," he
said. 

Trespassing swine have been spotted along Wright Avenue and Corbusier Drive,
congregating in rummaging hordes of up to 20 animals. One startled a woman
who was taking out garbage. 

Pigs also are suspected in the death of a pet cat, said Connie Canfield, a
homeowners association director. 

Canfield, who has a concealed-weapon permit, now carries a .38-caliber
pistol during morning walks with her miniature terriers, Tiffy and Ace, in
case of pig attack. 

Ruth Strahosky returned from vacation to find a corner of her front yard
reduced to shredded sod and soil. 

"My neighbor said there were two pigs in my yard. It looked like they
weighed 200, 300 pounds. They weren't little ones," she said. "My lawn man
says I have good earthworms." 

Dean and Penright trap the hogs using five metal cages, camouflaged with
palmetto leaves and baited with corn. They place the cages amid scrubby
brush and marshlands across the 200-odd acre airport site, picking spots
near rutted wallowing pits and muddy pig tracks. 

"We came in here with dogs one day and we caught seven by 12 o'clock," Dean
said. "We're catching them left and right here." 

Pigs are killed upon capture, he said. 

James Johnson, airport authority executive director, suspects the animals
are descended from domesticated pigs that were abandoned by a farming
operation.

Attached Photo:

Florida Wildlife Trapper James Dean with his wild hog trap. The traps are
located on the perimeter of the Melbourne International Airport.

120604trapper.jpg