photo by Jack Jeffrey

Pretty Piggy?

Feral pigs cause some of the worst damage to the Hawaiian rain forests. The pig was brought to Hawai'i by the Polynesians, but the current destruction is thought to be caused entirely by the more recent release of domestic European pigs.

Trouble x 4: Four reasons the feral pig is such a threat:

1. Destruction of native plants and habitat for native animals.

2. Resivores for diseases for man and domestic animals.

3. Soil erosion which harms our beaches and smothers our coral reefs.

4. Pig wallows are breeding sites for mosquitoes which carry avian malaria.

photo by Jack Jeffrey

Good Taste: The feral pigs selectively seek out some of our rare and endangered native plants for food.

Before the pig  

photo by Jack Jeffrey

After the pig

photo by Jack Jeffrey

A thick covering of fern normally carpets the rainforest floor in Hawai'i. The delicate fern is the first victim of the rooting pigs. Once the pig is removed, the understory can recover fairly rapidly.

A feral pig eradication project in the early 1900's removed over 170,000 pigs from forests statewide.