MANATEE COUNTY, Fla — Leaders with Manatee County Parks are working to remove invasive animals that have been living in Florida for hundreds of years – feral hogs.
Those same feral hogs sometimes end up on plates at local restaurants after they are captured and killed humanely.
The swines, which are not native to the Sunshine State, were brought by early settlers and are often seen as destructive because they eat the eggs of native wildlife – like birds, snakes and turtles.
"We're basically taking lemons and making lemonade," Jerry Miller, a senior ranger with Manatee County Parks explains. "We're taking these hogs destroying the environment and turning them into something that can benefit our fellow Manatee County residents."
Right now, the county is using cameras and their phones to monitor the traps.
According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, wild hogs are found in all 67 counties in the state. They are found in a wide variety of habitats but reportedly prefer oak-cabbage palm hammocks, freshwater marshes and sloughs, pine flatwoods and more open agricultural areas.
One wild female hog can have up to 24 piglets a year. The animal can also reach weights of more than 150 pounds and measure five to six feet long.
"They usually travel in small family groups or alone," FWC explains online. "Wild hogs eat a variety of plants and animals and feed by rooting with their broad snouts.
"They may disturb the soil and ground cover vegetation and leave the area looking like it has been plowed."
To learn more information on feral hogs, click here.