BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2268
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 29, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE
Anthony Rendon, Chair
AB 2268 (Bigelow) - As Amended: April 7, 2014
SUBJECT : Department of Fish and Wildlife; Wild Pigs
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) to
conduct a study on the wild pig population in California that
includes recommendations on solutions to mitigate the wild pig
population.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Classifies wild pigs as a game mammal and requires a hunting
license and wild pig tags or a depredation permit to take a
wild pig.
2)Authorizes land owners whose property is being damaged or
destroyed by wild pigs to apply to the DFW for a permit to
kill the animals. Requires DFW to provide an applicant for a
depredation permit to take wild pigs with written information
on the options for wild pig control, which include depredation
permits, allowing periodic access to the land by licensed
hunters, and holding special hunts.
3)Allows any wild pig that is encountered while in the act of
inflicting injury to, molesting, pursuing, worrying or killing
livestock, or damaging or destroying property to be taken
immediately by the owner or governmental official.
4)Requires DFW to prepare a plan for the management of wild
pigs, including determining the status and trend of wild pig
populations and management units.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : The author has introduced this bill to address
multiple problems caused by wild pig populations in California
that cause damage to agricultural and conservation lands. The
author asserts that wild pigs are the most destructive invasive
species in the state, causing hundreds of millions of dollars of
damage each year to natural ecosystems on public, private and
agricultural lands. This bill would require the DFW to conduct
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a study on the wild pig population and make recommendations on
solutions to mitigate the problems caused by their
overpopulation. The author also asserts that the current
process for landowners to obtain the applicable permits needed
to take wild pigs is cumbersome and difficult.
In addition to agricultural and natural resource damage
concerns, some urban residential areas have experienced problems
recently with wild pigs, which may be in part attributable to
the current drought. A recent story on ABC News noted that wild
pigs in the San Jose area had come into residential
neighborhoods there damaging property and threatening public
safety. The article indicated that the drought may be a factor
leading the pigs to move from the hills closer to residential
areas.
DFW's website indicates that Pigs (Sus scrofa) are native to
Eurasia and northern Africa. In the early 1700's Spanish and
Russian settlers introduced domestic pigs to California as
livestock and many became feral. In the 1920's a Monterey County
landowner introduced the European wild boar, a wild subspecies
of Sus scrofa into California, which bred with the domestic
pigs. The result of these introductions is a wild boar/feral
domestic pig hybrid. Until the mid-1950's, wild pigs were
unclassified under state law and could be killed with no
restrictions. In 1957, wild pigs were designated a game mammal
by the State Legislature. The Fish and Game Commission
established hunting seasons, bag and possession limits, method
of take and the conditions for using dogs. In 1992 Fish and
Wildlife Code Sections 4650 through 4657 were added requiring
hunters to possess wild pig license tags while hunting pigs.
Wild pigs currently exist in 56 of the state's 58 counties and
can be found in a variety of habitats ranging from woodland,
chaparral, meadow and grasslands. Wild pigs are omnivorous,
consuming both plant and animal matter. In general, wild pigs
feed on grasses and forbs in the spring, mast and fruits in the
summer and fall, and roots, tubers and invertebrates throughout
the year.
The DFW's website also includes the following: "The relationship
between California residents and wild pigs could be described as
"love/hate." That is, hunters love them while everyone else
seems to hate them. Classified as a game mammal in California,
wild pigs provide year-round hunting opportunity."
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The physical characteristics of a California wild pig vary
significantly throughout the state. Some exhibit the long hair
and snouts, small erect ears and angular shaped bodies of their
wild boar ancestors, while others have short hair, long floppy
ears, and a barrel-shaped body. Colors range from solid black to
red, striped, grizzled or spotted.
The DFW website provides the following advice on wild pigs.
"Even if you don't see wild pigs, evidence of their presence is
obvious-it could be as benign as a few pig tracks, or an entire
hillside that looks like it's been worked over with a
rototiller. Wild pigs use their snouts to root up the ground in
search of food, including roots, fungus, and other items. As
omnivores, they also consume garden landscape plants and
agricultural crops."
There are laws in California that provide landowners with a
variety of options for addressing wild pig-related property
damage. The DFW recommends the following options:
1. Landowners can allow hunters on their property to take
wild pigs. The landowner sets the rules regarding who
hunts, when, and for how long. It's the hunter's
responsibility to make sure he/she has the required license
and tags.
2. Landowners can purchase a hunting license and wild pig
tags, and go hunting on their property.
3. Landowners can allow DFW to conduct a hunt on their
property. There is no charge, and DFW may even make
improvements to the land to conduct the hunt-for example,
graveling roads, repairing gates and mending fences.
4. Landowners can request a depredation permit from DFG
that will allow them to hunt for pigs on their property any
time during the day or night. No hunting license is
required.
5. Landowners can immediately kill pigs that are
encountered on their property while conducting routine
activities. A hunting license is required but no additional
tags are needed if the person taking the pig is the
landowner, an agent of the landowner or an employee of the
landowner. DFG must be notified within 24 hours of the
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killing of the pig.
Potential Future Amendments : Supporters indicate this bill is a
"work in progress" and future substantive amendments may be
contemplated. The author has been working with stakeholders to
see if agreement can be reached on amendments that would lift
the restrictions on taking of wild pigs. The author's office has
committed to bring this bill back to this committee for a
hearing if substantive amendments are later adopted.
Changes being considered by the author but not before the
committee at this time include declassifying wild pigs as game
animals and allowing wild pigs to be taken at any time with a
hunting license and wild pig validation. A percentage of funds
from the sale of wild pigs would be used to remediate wild lands
damaged by pigs. Landowners whose land is being damaged by wild
pigs would not be required to have a hunting license or
depredation permit to take wild pigs on their land, except that
wild pigs would not be allowed to be taken at night without a
hunting license and prior notice to the DFW. The Humane Society
has expressed concerns with some of these proposed changes and
urges that any changes to current law should specify allowable
methods of take and prohibit inhumane methods, prohibit
activities that undermine the goal of reducing the wild pig
population such as breeding and importation, direct funds from
wild pig validations to pig related purposes, conform to current
law regarding non-lead ammunition and removal of carcasses, and
address public safety concerns with night hunting.
Support Arguments : The California Farm Bureau supports this
bill and indicates that wild pigs cause significant damage to
California's farms, ranches, and native habitats and that action
is needed to reduce their population. They cite to surveys
estimating that wild pigs cause over $1 million in damages each
year to agricultural crops, fencing, roads and trails. They
also assert that the 2006 outbreak of E. coli in spinach was
attributed to wild pigs.
Note : A report by the Centers for Disease Control and a joint
report by the California Department of Health Services and the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration actually concluded the
probable cause of the outbreak was Paicines Ranch, an Angus
cattle ranch that had leased land to spinach grower Mission
Organics. The reports found 26 samples of E. coli
indistinguishable from the outbreak strain in water and cattle
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manure on the San Benito County ranch, some within a mile from
the tainted spinach fields. Although officials could not
definitively say how the spinach became contaminated, both
reports named the presence of wild pigs on the ranch and the
proximity of surface waterways to irrigation wells as "potential
environmental risk factors." The reports also noted that flaws
in the spinach producer's transportation and processing systems
could have further spread contamination. Paicines Ranch is not
under investigation for its alleged role in the outbreak.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Farm Bureau
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Diane Colborn / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096