The Texas Legislature has approved and sent to Governor Greg Abbott a bill to allow hunters to bag feral hogs and coyotes by hot air balloon, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
It's the latest step in the state's effort to get rid of the invasive and highly dangerous critters. In 2013, the Legislature agreed to allow people to hunt feral hogs by helicopter, in what was dubbed the 'pork chopper bill.' The state Agriculture Commissioner has floated a proposal to kill them by using a variation on the common blood thinner Warfarin.
It's no laughing matter for the state's farmers and ranchers, according to Texas A&M researcher Billy Higgenbotham.
"Wild pigs do $52 million damage to Texas agriculture every year," he said.
He says the rampaging porkers damage fences and farm outbuildings, rip up crops and scatter cattle herds. And, like other feral species, they are very hard to stop.
Lubbock State Senator Charles Perry, who sponsored the bill, says despite decades of attempts to wipe them out, there are an estimated 2 million feral hogs in Texas. He says his bill requires a landowner to approve hot air balloon hunting over his or her property, and requires that the balloon the hunter is in be licensed by the state Parks and Wildlife Commission.
Higgenbotham says the 'pork chopper' bill has been effective, but he points out that it is expensive to hire a helicopter, and the loud helicopter engines frequently scare off the hogs before hunters can take aim, so its impact has been limited.
"They can remove thirty to forty pigs per hour of flight time," he said. "Where you can fly with a helicopter using trained personnel, it is by far the most effective method in terms of the number of pigs removed."