The US Has a Wild Hog Problem

Despite not being native to North America, wild hogs are positively thriving on the continent with the population in the U.S. reaching record numbers in recent years. 
According to a new report from National Geographic, around six million feral swine run hog wild in at least 35 U.S. states (for context, six million is also the population of Massachusetts). That’s largely due to their adaptability…and the fact that they can produce up to two litters of four to 12 piglets every 12 to 15 months, starting at the age of eight months.
But it’s not the fact that they wreak havoc on agricultural crops, or that they can be dangerous, that’s most concerning to experts. It’s that they carry diseases. And, more specifically, human diseases — leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis, brucellosis, swine influenza, salmonella, hepatitis and pathogenic E. coli, chief among then.
The US Has a Wild Hog Problem