Houston Press By Meagan Flynn Friday, May 26, 2017
Legislature Wants Texans to Shoot Feral Hogs From Hot Air Balloons
Because hunting feral hogs from helicopters was just getting too impractical and expensive, the Texas Legislature has now approved a new plan to help eradicate the pests: hunting them from hot air balloons.
The Senate passed House Bill 3535 this week, sending the bill to Governor Greg Abbott for his consideration. It will allow landowners to shoot both feral hogs and coyotes from hot air balloons as long as they get a permit from the state.
Feral hogs are considered an invasive species in Texas, because they create a particularly cumbersome problem for ranchers and farmers, since the pigs eat and destroy perfectly good crops and even kill livestock and cause millions in damage every year. There are about 2.5 million wild hogs in Texas — they could essentially replace the population of Houston. And so lawmakers and rural Texans have repeatedly tried to find ways to kill them.
In 2011, Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, then a state representative, put forth the "Pork Chopper" bill, allowing hunters to pay for the thrilling experience of shooting feral hogs from helicopters. In fact, Helibacon, in Bryan, created an entire business model around this concept.
More:
http://www.houstonpress.com/news/texans-can-now-shoot-hogs-from-hot-air-baloons-9471650
