Feral hogs

I posted this recently in the Amarillo Globe News after seeing some obvious misinformation in some comments to an article:

"Feral hogs are domestic pigs gone wild. In one generation they are as wild as heck, and in two they revert back in terms of hair growth. The next several generations revert back to the original wild look of the longer snout, tusks, etc. Different traits, coloration, etc., come from the different breeds of originating domestic stock. The mention of Russian boar affecting today's feral hogs is totally erroneous. Any releases/escapes from decades ago (and they certainly were not up here), and points east, were quickly bred out by the regular feral genetics, way back, and a truck load released today would be bred out with out a trace quickly. Javelinas are not even related, so should not even be mentioned here. There are no hogs native to North America!

As for the ferociousness, you are fine provided 1) you don't walk up on an injured one, 2) you don't try to grab one, 3) and I wouldn't want to test too many times what a sow might do if you walked in between her and her piglets. Keep in mind they have terrible sight. If they cannot make you out by smell they may venture towards you to get a better look. In a panic - and partly due to this poor eye site - they may scatter in all directions and, yes, some may come your way. But they are not going to hunt you down. :)

That being said, they are terribly damaging to range, and may impact wildlife particularly rare species, nests of dense-nesting ground birds, and during times of drought when production is low due to poor cover/poor reproductive conditions.