How the wild boar came to U.S.

[Gordon]

I went to the Stuvy Fish round ups in the early 70s. I was googling him to do reasearch on an interesting loacal pioneer and I came across this letter.
http://www.ventanawild.org/news/se02/pigs.html

 

[Art Eatman]

Thanks! Really neat!

 

[Double Naught Spy]

The letter is a neat accounting, but isn't apparently the first wild boar in the US. It is a secondary event. Apparently, they were introduced quite a bit prior to that in New Hampshire in 1890.

http://books.google.com/books?id=rh...=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#PPA47,M1

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

the russian 'black boar' that were brought to a private game preserve near Robbinsville, NC in late 1800's got loose and have been a plague ever since. they have ranged as far as upstate SC and mated with loose domestics that became 'feral hog'.
and they are MEAN. and can get BIG.

 

[Ed4032]

I never knew when my ex-wife came here.

 

[JohnBT]

There were already wild hogs in Virginia when Jamestown was settled in the early 1600s. The settlers were quite thankful for them. The hogs had apparently escaped from passing Spanish and Portuguese ships.

John

 

[LeonCarr]

As mentioned in the previous post, the spanish and portuguese explorers brought them to the new world as food in the late 1500s.

They have been here a while .

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[hardluk1]

Pounce de leon brought our favorate pigs to this St.augustene fl in the early 1500's .

 

[countertop]

As others have pointed out, the Spanish let them out along the coast of North Florida/GA in the 1500s. You can still get out onto some of the barrier islands there and get pigs that taste just fantastic.

 

[JohnBT]

Don't shoot the wild ponies, they don't taste as good.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

As others have pointed out, the Spanish let them out along the coast of North Florida/GA in the 1500s.

I think some of y'all are confusing domestic pigs/hogs with Russian/European boars. The Spanish were not documented bringing Russian boars to the New World in the 1500s. The letter in the OP or references in posts 3 and 4 are not about common domestic pigs, but Russian boars - Same species, different subspecies.

 

[LeonCarr]

IME/IMO the European Boars (Could have been Russian I guess) were brought to the new world by the spaniards/portuguese/conquistadors in the 1500s. Everything I have heard/read/surfed from the internet etc shows them to be wild hogs. Also keep in mind the pig is the easiest animal to domesticate and the easiest to go back wild again, so they could have been domesticated in the cargo hold of the Pina, Nina, and Santa Maria, then went wild once they hit the beach .

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[hardluk1]

Never said russian stock ,just the first hogs,from europe to the islands then to florida, came with the spanish to north east florida in the early 1500's so the St. Augustine area then on to the rest of our pig eat'n country.