WICHITA, Kan. (AP) _ Unlike other states, Kansas has succeeded in culling the herds of feral hogs tromping through its rural areas.
Feral hogs have been a growing problem in the U.S., where about 5?million wild swine caused nearly $1.6 billion in damage to crops, lawns, wildlife habitat and by introducing diseases to domestic animals last year.
The Wichita Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/R7Rkn6 ) that the hogs have expanded to about 40 states, which is about double from two decades ago.
But in Kansas the number of wild hogs is down thanks to management practices, including aerial gunning, trapping and a ban on sport hunting for feral hogs.
Curran Salter, a U.S. Department of Agriculture biologist, says there were about 2,500 feral hogs in Kansas six years ago, and now there are about 1,000.
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