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What happens when wild pigs are given 1,000 tons of groceries per day in the form of landfill trash? Expect an explosion in pig and litter size, and quite possibly, a $50 billion decimation of the entire U.S. pork industry, reports AgWeb.
The Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina has become ground zero for research drawing a nexus between wild pigs and the potential introduction of African swine fever (ASF) into the U.S.
At an SRS location, wild pigs have grown notably bigger and birthed larger litters in just a handful of years, attributable to the establishment of a landfill — a veritable hog buffet. The SRS landfill and other similar refuse dumps across the U.S. may be ticking time bombs, and could open America’s door to ASF.
