Wild boars in search of moisture devastate lawns and gardens
Lawns and gardens on St. Mark’s Avenue near Anderson County Park east of Morgan Hill have been ravaged by boars coming down from the hills.
Starting on July 20, landscaping in the quiet, neighborhood next to the park was torn up by boars returning five nights in a row, ripping up the ground in a hunt for food and water.
“Summer is the hardest time for animals,” said Martha Schauss, a wildlife biologist for the California Department of Fish and Game. “The area has dried up, so they some down looking for moisture.”
The homes around St. Mark’s Avenue are large, prosperous homes surrounded by farmland.
Boars are wild pigs that live in the area and can weigh up to 400 pounds.
Lawn damage was extensive. On one lawn, the ground has a small hill that rises three feet. The boars dug so much out of it, the lawn now has a slight crater.
“That is their favorite way to eat,” said Schauss. “They dig up the ground looking for worms and grubs.”
According to resident Mike Gunion, the food supply in the area is running low, so the boars have come down looking for food. He was told by a probation officer that once the boars know where a food supply is, the likelihood of them returning is high.
“He said that they are aware of the food source so they will be back,” said Gunion.
“They are looking for saturated ground to dig up,” said Daniel Pina, animal control officer with the Morgan Hill Police Department. “They like ground that is nice and wet and has a lot of vegetation, such as worms and so forth.”
Pina confirmed that this is the time of year for the animals to appear. He has seen similar incidents in the eastside Jackson Oaks area off East Dunne Avenue.
“The amount they come in varies,” said Pina. “They will come down in groups of four to 20 at time at this time of year.”
Boars had torn up lawns five years ago, and Gunion says that then he used a gun to scare the animals off. He applied for a permit from the county, which he received, but was told that he also needed to get permission from the city.
This time, Gunion was denied a permit, but a Morgan Hill Police officer has offered his services should the boars return.
Pina says that the best thing to deter the wild pigs is to put up temporary fences.
“The city will not allow any hunting in city limits,” said Pina. “A lot of folks would like to shoot the pigs, but without the chief’s permission they can’t. In a residential area, it is a big issue.”
Boars have been known to rip up landscaping in the past throughout the South Valley. During the summer of 2002, damage to the football field at Gavilan College in Gilroy was estimated at $40,000 .
Professional trappers were called, but not before 150,000-square-feet of sod was up-rooted. The problem began on a small scale in May or June of that year, but escalated to major damage during the summer months – to the point where the football team had to move practice to fields at Brownell Academy.
Golf courses have had to deal with boars ripping apart the grass too. The Institute Golf Course and Coyote Creek Golf Course both had to put up fences to combat the landscape destroyers.
