Officials: Progress being made eliminating feral hogs

(AP) — Missouri conservation officials say they are making progress eliminating feral hogs from the state. 

The Springfield News-Leader reports that the Missouri Feral Hog Elimination Partnership killed 9,857 feral hogs in 2021, bringing the total number of hogs killed since 2016 to more than 54,000. 

Jason Jensen, incident Commander of Feral Hog Operations for Missouri Department of Conservation, said those numbers are slightly down from previous years. 

But he sees that as a sign of success. 

He said that when you more than doubled your effort, but only found fewer hogs that certainly would indicate that feral hog populations are not increasing, but they’re decreasing.