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 AB 2268 Page 2 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." AB 2268 Page 3 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 AB 2268 Page 4 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 AB 2268 Page 5 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