Wild pigs on the run; officials trying to round up the animals

A group of wild pigs remains on the loose following their escape from a West Penn Township facility.

State game Warden Joel Gibble described the pigs as dark colored, and weighing over 200 pounds each.

Gibble said the organization is working in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services based in Harrisburg.

Owner Michael Comisac posted on Facebook that he is trying to do everything he can to get the animals back.

Gibble said, “We’re working to get them back or get them off the landscape there. We are looking for any type of sightings or information on where they’ve been.”

One resident reported a spotting in the area of Mush Dahl Road.

Gibble added, “We’re looking for the most up-to-date information on their location. We do have a pretty good idea.

“Pigs can be quite destructive to agriculture, and we don’t allow them to be loose in the wild of Pennsylvania,” he said. “It’s attracting a lot of local attention.”

Gibble added, “Individuals are reminded that they are not allowed to trespass looking for these pigs, and to respect landowners’ property.”

Harris Glass, state director, U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, said he believes the pigs have been on the loose within the past two weeks.

“Not sure how that came about; they were in a fenced-in location,” Glass said. “These were more semi-feral animals, more on a shooting preserve.”

Glass said he did not have the address of the property where the pigs escaped, nor did he have the name of the landowner.

“They have kind of scattered within the area; we are in the process of trying to locate those animals,” he said. “We are contacting landowners in the area, and we’re getting phone calls from landowners in the area.”

Destructive animals

Glass noted the importance of locating the pigs.

“They can be very destructive,” he said. “A lot of the landowners that we have contacted are more than willing to allow us there to remove those animals.”

Glass said he believes between 8 and 12 animals are on the loose.

“I think the facility may have deer and elk there as well. We haven’t had any reports of those being out,” he said. “The landowner has tried to get them back in on his own, but that has not been successful.”

Glass said the pigs have “scattered and they broke up, and they’re not in one big group right now. Small pockets of animals.”

“It’s kind of cat-and-mouse trying to find these animals,” he said. “We have removed one animal so far, but we continue trying to locate these animals, trying to locate more properties that we can access to see if they’re on those properties.”

Glass said the pigs can also cause other problems as well.

“They can harbor diseases that can impact other hog operations, more domestic hog operations, and also they can cause human harm, vehicle car collisions, as well as if you corner one of these animals, they will charge you,” he said. “They’re not your average pink pig that’s very docile, they can be very aggressive, and they’re pretty smart. They’re pretty much able to find their own forage, they move very quickly.”

Glass noted there are feral swine on the landscape in multiple parts throughout the state.

“They compete with native wildlife. They would eat everything that deer would eat, but hogs will actually root the ground up, and with the amount of rain we’ve been having, you can have a lot of erosion,” he said. “It’s a nasty animal to have out in the environment.”

Glass urged anyone who has seen the pigs to call the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services at 866-487-3297, or the Pennsylvania Game Commission at 610-926-3136.