Hog spotted in Hemet

[TheGDog]

Just an FYI... I had follow-up visit with my Ortho Doctor today and he mentioned his friend in Hemet telling him that over the weekend a Hog had ran across the highway/fwy just in front of him/his car.

That was all the 2nd hand information he had to mention to me. I'm totally unfamiliar with that area. Just thought if i lived out there I'd like to know and hear about it... so there ya go.

-G

 

[OPAH]

Could be during the Pot Belly Pig fad thousands of this little guys that grew to be to big were set free, that's were the Santa Ana river pigs are suspected of coming from. I could see It happening In Hemet

 

[mezcan]

Could be during the Pot Belly Pig fad thousands of this little guys that grew to be to big were set free, that's were the Santa Ana river pigs are suspected of coming from. I could see It happening In Hemet

The Santa Ana River swine are not pot bellied pig pets let loose in the drainage. Where do you hear this stuff?


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[OPAH]

This is one of many articles on the pigs in the Santa Ana River bed, which all are believed to be Domestic Pigs gone Feral. There was a big to do about pigs being sold as pot bellied pigs when in fact they were not, Many got released. They pigs in the Santa Ana River are not indigenous to the area.

PEDLEY, Calif. — The thicket-like Santa Ana River bottom has for years been a notorious hiding place for fugitives, stolen cars and marijuana plants.

Those problems Riverside County authorities have been able to control.
They are not so sure, however, when it comes to an ever-growing population of domestic pigs, now running wild along a 7-mile stretch from Riverside west to the Prado Basin. Increasingly, horseback riders have spotted the elusive, 300- to 400-pound hogs bursting through bamboo-like grass and onto the county's popular Santa Ana River Regional Park trail system.

"They just crush right through the trail," said Mark Hernandez, who has spotted the pigs at least seven times in as many months when he took evening rides on the trails near Pedley, west of Riverside. "There's no warning. And they're huge."
Authorities fear that the population of the hogs, estimated from 300 to 400, could spiral out of control. Although they pose no apparent danger, parks officials and horse owners say that the pigs could scare horses, throwing inexperienced riders to the ground. No one has been hurt so far.

"It's going to be a danger pretty soon," said Hernandez, who sits on a special committee that is trying to come up with a way to get the hogs back to their livestock roots. "I know it's going to be a kid or an Orange County rider out here on the weekend that gets thrown from a horse."
County officials say the pigs were first seen in the region in 1985. But theories about how they got there vary; some say that they escaped from nearby hog auctions or farm pens, living off the land and multiplying ever since.
Other, more conspiratorial theories point at a disgruntled Rubidoux ranch owner who, they suspect, released about two dozen pigs to the wild as a way of getting back at the county over a land dispute.
Whatever the case, once they were free, the swine had no problem making the river their home. Pig experts say that they are attracted to the swampy area, where they can live on fruits, nuts and wild berries, and a host of other foods. At the same time, they can hide in the dense grass which grows to 12 to 15 feet high and shields parts of the river from above.
"They'll migrate right to the riverbed; that's their survival," said Sandy Tourigny, who runs Zar's Red Power Durocs, a pig farm in Mira Loma. "They start reverting back to the wild."
Pig experts say that by all accounts, the animals are not prone to attack. Some hogs may be growing inch-long tusks, but nothing close to the long tusks found on wild boars.
"If you go in there and start beating on them, like any animal, they are going to respond," Tourigny said. "Usually the pig is lying there. They're not going to go 'rrrrhr' to scare you."
Still, county officials warn that the pigs want to be left alone. Even though they have changed in the wild, they are still stubborn. As Hernandez was riding at dusk on Tuesday night, he sighted a herd of two dozen pigs crossing the trails. This time, one stopped and looked at him, he said.
"If you make any attempt toward them they will challenge you," Hernandez said. "I just tightened my reins, and one of the pigs grunted and took a few steps toward me."
But the problem goes beyond scaring the daylights out of equestrians. The pigs are apparently destroying the riverbed's natural habitat, home to the least Bell's vireo, a bird on the endangered species list. County officials call it yet another side effect of urban sprawl.

"You dump these pigs, and look what it's caused," said Paul Frandsen, deputy director of operations and natural resources for the county parks agency. "We know we're going to have to do something about it. It's not an easy issue."
Since the summer, the county parks agency has been working with the state Fish and Game Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to study ways of curbing the population growth.
"Pigs are extremely destructive to the vegetation," said Carla Wakeman, a natural resource specialist for Riverside County. "Their rooting is destructive. They root for insects, earthworms, larvae. But it's not so much what they eat as what they destroy."
Population control will not be easy. Experts believe females can produce about five or six piglets to a litter, and can give birth as often as twice a year.
"It's like boom, boom, boom and you got pigs coming under your desk," Frandsen said. Even if a controlled hunt was allowed, hunters probably would not track down enough pigs to make a dent in the population. Conversely, "If you do nothing they will continue to grow."
Gun and archery clubs have offered to kill them, either from the ground or by helicopter. And some horse riders say that they already have seen hunters hauling off dead hogs, presumably for a barbecue.
But public officials say that a controlled hunt could become a political mud bath, and it might not make much of a dent in the pig population anyway.
"How do you go find one?" Frandsen said. "It would be hell to get them out."

 

[mezcan]

There have been farms in the Santa Ana River Valley for over 150 years, and yes that is the definition of a feral pig, a domesticated swine gone wild. When you read an article in any periodical or newspaper and you see no bibliography to back up the assertions the writer is making the story is basically poppycock!


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[OPAH]

OK where did the Santa Ana River Pigs come from? Spanish settlers in the 1700s?
all read seemed pretty factual what part of it do you not agree with?

 

[mezcan]

Nobody will ever know exactly where this sounder originated!


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[OPAH]

Cool so anything Is possible, even fake pot bellied pigs turned loose In Hemet. yes its a stretch and Very unlikely but yet it is still possible.

 

[Wild1]

The Hemet pig was most likely an escaped domestic pig, many small farms and ranches in Hemet. Santa Ana River hogs are feral, but gnarly hogs - they've been wild for a good long time - also escaped farm hogs, but from generations ago.

 

[OPAH]

Wouldn't it be great to find out there are pigs in and around a local area to be hunted !
So sad the CDFW has decided that Ca. hunters would not be effective in reducing the population of pigs in the Santa Ana River, and soon as a kid is hurt falling off of their horse they will do the same as San Diego and have them eradicated and left to Rot.
Why not look at brighter possibilities rather than the inevitable slaughter that will happen.

 

[Wino]

Hemet has other exotics as well.... http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Tiger-Cub-Found-Roaming-Neighborhood-324292611.html

 

[sportyg]

Used to live in Hemet so wacky people there... At one time you could hunt the pigs in the river bed but they put a stop to that after the horse people complained about it.. they were feared some hunter would mistake there horses for pigs and shoot them.. Oh so dumb...

 

[Deleted member 33033]

There are a few exotic pigs in Hemet but nobody will claim them. Possible runaways.

 

[Wino]

I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

 

[KTKT70]

I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

Lmao.... Fat girls need love too.... Right

 

[Limited Out]

I know a few have been spotted over on Florida Ave.

 

[TheGDog]

Lmao.... Fat girls need love too.... Right

It's all Pink inside, Baby! It's all Pink inside.

 

[Deleted member 33033]

It's all Pink inside, Baby! It's all Pink inside.

That was over the top.