Updated: 6/22/2009 8:29:01 PM
In a given year, officials with Great Smoky Mountains National Park trap and shoot close to 300 wild hogs. This year, they've already killed more than 500 and officials say those won't be the last.
"They are a very destructive animal in the park," said park spokesperson Nancy Gray.
Gray says the small hogs can cause some big problems for the park's ecosystem.
"They uproot many of the rare species of plants. They eat salamanders and other native species, as well, and they do it with such a fierceness that you can see the damage and the impact on the environment," she said.
For that reason, the park has wildlife technicians specially trained to get rid of the hogs using traps.
So far this year, they've removed more than 500 hogs from the park, the highest number in more than 20 years.
Gray says the reason for the increase is the same reason the bear population has risen: more food. More food means more hogs, but, despite their numbers, the wild hogs are not commonly seen by park visitors.
"They're mostly nocturnal. There is an occasion where a visitor will see a wild hog, but for the most part, they are nocturnal. Our wildlife technicians will hunt them at night and trap them, and they will capture them more when they move around at night, " Gray said.
And because the hogs are not native park inhabitants, they have to go.
"When you have a non-native species, then other things come out of balance, and we want to make sure to maintain what those native species are and what the park is all about," Gray said.
Gray says the technicians will remove more hogs as the weather turns colder, as the hogs move to lower elevations to find food.
