Texas Ag Commissioner Awards Grants to Combat Feral Hogs

August 19, 2013 — 

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples announced two grants totaling $55,000 were awarded to Texas counties in an effort to enhance statewide feral hog abatement. Grant funds were made available through TDA’s County Hog Abatement Matching Program (CHAMP) which supports the development of low-cost, high-return, regionally-coordinated programs that leverage local resources to combat the growing feral hog population in Texas. Bell County in partnership with Coryell, Falls, Hamilton and Milam counties was awarded $25,000 to support abatement efforts. Additionally, $30,000 was awarded to a partnership between Caldwell and Hays counties.

“The feral hog population has exploded in the last 20 years, costing Texans untold millions of dollars,” Commissioner Staples said. “Our ability to control this will depend on two primary factors. First, our efforts must be coordinated across all public entities and private landowners. Second, we must focus on the most low-cost, high-return methods when investing limited taxpayer dollars into these efforts. CHAMP grants accomplish both of these by building on the successes of recent initiatives.”

Texas is home to the largest feral hog population in the United States with nearly 2.6 million feral hogs causing an estimated $500 million in damage in rural and urban Texas each year. CHAMP is designed to encourage counties across Texas to create regional partnerships with other counties, local governments, businesses, landowners and associations to reduce the feral hog population and the damage caused by these pests.

Bell, Coryell, Falls, Hamilton and Milam counties will coordinate the use of grant funds to invest in public education workshops that raise awareness about feral hog abatement. The money also will supplement trapping and hunting initiatives, including funding bounty programs.

CHAMP grants are awarded through a competitive application process. The participating county partnerships are required to contribute a minimum match of one dollar for every dollar of grant money requested.

In 2010, Commissioner Staples created the Hog Out Challenge to encourage locally-initiated feral hog abatement activities in counties across Texas through coordinated and concentrated attacks. This has resulted in some of the lowest-cost, highest-yielding hog removal activities since 2006 when the state began investing in these efforts. CHAMP, in partnership with Hog Out, aims to strengthen the state’s feral hog abatement initiatives by adding a regional focus across multiple counties.

Additional information on the feral hog abatement program is available here.

Source: Texas Department of Agriculture, August 15, 2013