Pig Killing Proposed for Santa Cruz Island
In a $7.5-million effort to salvage threatened native plants and animals, biologists are proposing to kill thousands of feral pigs that roam Santa Cruz Island and burn away the fennel plants where they hide.
About 4,000 wild pigs live on the island, and it would take at least six years to eradicate them, biologists said in a report released Tuesday.
Removing the pigs is part of an effort to undo the effects of a century of ranching, hunting and other enterprises on the island, the largest in the Channel Islands National Park off Ventura County’s coast.
A similar eradication plan is under way on Catalina Island. Feral pigs also were removed a decade ago from Santa Rosa Island, which is also in the park.
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