If lawmakers have their way,wild boar will not find a home in the Vermont woods.
Wild boar and feral pigs area nuisance species around the country. Vermont wildlife officials are concerned that the animalscould escape from captive hunting facilities and take hold in the Green Mountains.
So the House approved a banon wild boar on Thursday. Williston Democrat Jim McCullough explained the billfor the Fish, Wildlife and water Resources Committee.
Wild hogs are an invasivespecies, reproduce rapidly and are known to cause significant damage, he said.
McCullough says the billtargets alls varieties of wild boar and their genetic cousins.
Prohibiting the issuance ofa permit for the importation or possession of wild boar, wild hog, wild swine,feral pig, feral hog, feral swine, razorback, Eurasian wild boar, or Russianwild boar species, hybrids or genetic variants, he said.
The boar bill is partof a housekeeping bill that amends several Fish and Wildlife statutes.