Anadarko Feral Pig Problem Is A Symptom Of Statewide Issue, USDA Says

The City of Anadarko is working with the state and federal agencies to corral a group of feral pigs that’s been damaging park property. 

About two dozen pigs have been spotted on the north side of Randlett Park, according to the city. 

“Having T-ball down here and a bunch of kids down here, that’s never a good thing,” said Dennis Dutton, Anadarko resident and parkgoer. “The first thing is safety for the kids.” 

Scott Alls works with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. He said they are feeding the pigs daily to lure them to a specific area where they plan to set a trap.

Alls said they hope to trap the passel in the next week. 

“It’s a slow process and every situation varies,” he said, adding that the pigs near the Anadarko park appear to have been “disturbed” already, possibly by an attempted trap, so they are timid. 

More than a million feral pigs are estimated to be in Oklahoma in 2010, according to the Noble Research Institute. Alls said it’s difficult to quantify the population because of their appearance, movement and rapid reproduction. 

“When it reaches a certain point, they become exponential in reproduction,” he said. “We’ve got pigs all the way to the Kansas border.” 

The USDA and state use 60-70 traps and four helicopters across Oklahoma to control the feral pig population. 

Wild pigs are territorial and can be aggressive towards people, but Alls said their greatest threat is largely unseen. 

“They carry more diseases than about any creature on the earth and a lot of those are transmissible to humans,” Alls said.