Some homeowners in a McKinney neighborhood say wild hogs are leaving a trail of destruction and getting too close for comfort.
“I've never seen bacon run in front of me,” said Mike Danielson, who spotted a trio of feral hogs while driving his daughter to school Thursday morning.
“The windows were kind of iced up because it was cold this morning so, real foggy,” Danielson said. “My daughter was like, 'dad what's that?' and I just saw three big black things.”
He was able to snap a picture and shared it on the neighborhood Facebook page. He was not the only one that had spotted the trio.
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“I got on my Facebook account and started messaging my neighbors saying, ‘did anyone lose any pigs today?’” TJ Trusty said. Trusty lives minutes away from Danielson in the Erwin Farms neighborhood.
“I was actually coming home from dropping off my kids, and I saw these figures in the dark,” Trusty said. “So, I looked and they were wild boars! Wild hogs!”
Later that morning, he spotted the wild hogs again and captured that brief encounter on video.
“There they are,” Trusty said on the video.
“I don't know, it's like they have this fascination with the weeds and the bushes,” Trusty said.
That fascination has resulted in destruction for some homeowners.
“I had woken up in the morning, and they had torn up the yard there, gone through my flower beds, tore up some neighbors' yards over here and tore up some down the street,” Fred Turner said.
Some neighbors are concerned for their safety.
“The concern is like, what if there's more?” Trusty said.
In an e-mail, a spokesperson for the City of McKinney shared the following information.
“McKinney is known for its nature and various wildlife call the city home. While city staff is not equipped to trap feral hogs, we have been in contact with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Game Warden to provide assistance. In the meantime, staff is focused on educating residents and HOAs on how to make their yards and common areas less attractive to these animals."
"Additionally, it is illegal to discharge a firearm in the city limits unless the property is larger than 10 acres. In that case, additional restrictions are enforced,” the statement added.
Until a plan is finalized to address the wild boar issue, neighbors have also started to consider adding security measures of their own.
“There's nothing you can do. Maybe an electric fence,” Turner said. However, Turner added the concern would then be for the safety of the children and pets in the area.
