SAN ANTONIO – A 271-pound feral boar was caught Monday on a residential property on the Northwest Side after terrorizing the potbelly pigs of the man who lives there.
The man, who asked to remain anonymous, rents the home and told KSAT the massive boar jumped a fence and attacked one of his two potbelly pigs so he called 311 and was referred to Roland Ortiz.
Ortiz, owner of Ortiz Game Management, LLC, was then called by the renter to trap the animal, which had become a danger to the residents in the area.
“We haven’t had issues with hogs on our land before but people in my neighborhood have,” the renter told KSAT.
Ortiz set up a metal cage on the renter’s property to trap the boar but a deer got caught in the trap instead.
Killing of feral hogs without license now legal in Texas
That was enough for the boar who showed up again Monday and that’s when the renter called Ortiz again to trap the beast.
Ortiz was out on another called and enlisted the help of the Bexar Brothers who "went out there and took care of the problem.”
The Bexar Brothers help eradicate hogs for property owners, ranchers and farmers, according to their Facebook page.
When asked what normally happens to trapped hogs, Ortiz explained “when we trap them we usually take them to a state-certified feral hog holding facility. But in this case, the landlord wanted it. They had a wedding coming up and wanted to have a big barbecue so we butchered it for them."
411 lb. wild boar caught near San Antonio golf course
The renter is relieved to have the boar gone, referring to the animal as “pretty vicious” and calling it a “very, very, very smart hog.”
He said the boar had a horrific growl and that you could hear it overnight in the days leading up to its capture.
Ortiz said one of the biggest boars he’s ever caught inside city limits was 333 pounds and explained that once a hog gets to about 220-240 pounds “that’s a market hog."
“It has to eat an enormous amount of food to maintain that weight,” he added.
Feral hogs are extremely hazardous and typically avoid conflict, “if you give them a way out they’ll take it,” Ortiz said.
He stressed, however, the importance of safety when it comes to feral hogs saying, “they problem solve and they communicate."
"I equate hog intelligence to dog or chimpanzee intelligence.”
Four San Antonio lakes to be stocked with thousands of rainbow trout
“If you have a wild animal that weighs several hundred pounds, with two- to three-inch teeth that runs 30 miles an hour - that’s a lion,” Ortiz said.
He said his goal isn’t to scare people but to create awareness to help people stay safe.
Feral hogs reproduce at an alarming rate with an average of 5 to 6 pigs per litter and one to two litters per year, according to Texas A&M Agrilife Extension, which estimates the feral hog population in Texas to be 2.6 million.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department estimates the population to be in excess of 1.5 million.