Feral Swine Population Control

Commission President Boop, Board of Commissioners, Executive Director Roe, Commission staff, my name is Ken Bechtel. I am a farmer from Dauphin County and serve as a volunteer on my county Wildlife Damage control Committee, and am a member of the PA Farm Bureau State Wildlife Damage Committee. I also hunt and enjoy seeing reasonable numbers of deer on my farm. Thank you for the opportunity to share the views of our membership as they relate to wildlife issues.

I don’t often have the ability to come to Commission meetings. Farming requires constant attention making my ability to get away difficult. I thank you and this Commission for its efforts to provide effective, workable programs to address the needs of farmers to control wildlife on their properties. Changes instituted recently have improved crop damages to my farm and for some of my neighbor’s farms.

I like many farmers, face wildlife damage problems that are caused or contributed to by properties that are posted or landowners that do not allow hunting. If educational efforts by the Game Commission would focus on public education to help solve this problem, it would greatly help reduce the problems many farmers face. I believe we could then begin to better balance deer and other wildlife impacts on farms, private property and habitat.

The Wildlife Damage Committee I serve on for Farm Bureau has been addressing feral hogs for about two years. We are concerned that Pennsylvania not become negatively affected by these invasive species as other states have. Animal health on farms and habitat for wildlife species could be severely impacted by feral hogs, if their populations are allowed to grow and expand their range. Please continue to work with the Department of Agriculture and USDA /APHIS to eliminate populations of feral swine from the Commonwealth.

We seek immediate and effective action to stop the growth of feral swine populations before we have an irreversible population that cannot be eradicated. We support allowing hunters who come across feral swine, to shoot them during a limited hunting season. Having additional enforcement available through the Game Commission where trapping or other studies are being conducted should help efforts to bring feral hogs under control much more quickly.

I would ask that you please refer to our testimony presented to you in the October meeting before your final vote on regulations under Section 147.762. A copy of that testimony is attached to the copy of my testimony today. We believe the action that received preliminary approval by Commissioners, was not the intent of the PA Senate, and is not consistent with provisions the Wildlife Code gives farmers to address wildlife damage immediately, where and when it is occurring.

Please do not place restrictions on what we believe was intended to give farmers more tools immediately. We respectfully ask that the requirements of permit applicants to be enrolled in a Commission public access programs for a minimum of two years, and requirement to have agricultural deer control permits, be removed from the proposed regulation.

The signing of Act 26 into law by Governor Rendell gave farmers across the state encouragement that additional relief to wildlife damage is in sight. Please do not take away our hope, and confound efforts to combat wildlife damage, and crop and property protection. For small farming operations like mine this requested change is important, it is needed, and it is the right thing to do. I do not believe the language of the regulations in the preliminary approval by Commissioners in October is what the PA Senate intended when they passed House Bill 881 or the Governor when he signed it into law as Act 26, of 2007.
Thank you