Feral hogs (Sus scrofa) have been present in North America since the arrival of the earliest settlers in the sixteenth century. Colonists originally released hogs because of the animals’ ability to survive on their own and to serve as a ready food supply for settlers. Since that time, hogs have expanded their range and now are present in 40 of the 50 United States and parts of Canada. Their rapid expansion is similar to that of other introduced species, and, as a result, they are generally classified as an invasive exotics, along with hundreds of other plant and animal species. However, feral hogs may pose an ecological threat that far surpasses that posed by other invasive vertebrates
