feral hogs

Feral hogs have caused widespread damage to Cumberland Island Wilderness and island ecosystems. Feral hogs destroy the nests of endangered sea turtles and ground nesting birds, including shorebirds, by eating the eggs and compete with native species for food and shelter.
The feral hogs’ foraging and rooting activities have also greatly disturbed the island’s various plant communities and plant patterns of succession; interfered with essential nutrient cycling; in some areas removed dune stabilizing vegetation, and destroyed archeological sites.

Feral hogs have been found to heavily feed on longleaf pine seedlings, affecting the regeneration of this valuable key plant species. The disruption of the island’s flora also directly impacts the island’s fauna dependent on those various plant communities for food, shelter, and nesting.

For the past few years, the National Park Service has employed a hunter to shoot all hogs on the beach. The beach hunts have been effective in reducing sea turtle nest depredation; only four nests have been reported as depredated by feral hogs since 2002.

But hundreds of feral hogs still roam the island. The Park Service acknowledges that all feral hogs should be removed from the island, A significant and sustained effort to hunt and trap all the feral hogs is the best long-term solution.

Please take a moment to take action on this issue by sending this form letter to our National Park Service representatives!

To send the form letter, please follow these simple instructions:

1. Click the button below.
2. The form letter is password-protected to reduce spam. The password is “cumberland.”
3. Read the letter. Enter your name, email and zip code.
4. Submit!

Visit our Island Issues page for more issues affecting Cumberland Island.