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Feral hog bait pulled in Texas

A pesticide approved by the EPA this year specifically for controlling feral hog populations is being withdrawn from registration in Texas.

Scimetrics, the maker of Kaput Feral Hog Bait, says it can’t compete with special interest groups that have threatened lawsuits against the family-owned business and will be discontinuing its efforts to register the product in the Lone Star State.

Earlier this year, the state’s ag department imposed stricter ‘state-limited-use” pesticide regulations which meant it could only be bought and used by a licensed applicator or someone under the direct supervision of a licensed applicator.  Those rules were then blocked by a state judge after the Texas Hog Hunters Association and Environmental Defense Fund among others sued saying the pesticide would hurt the state’s meat and hunting industries.

Texas lawmakers are considering a bill that would require a state agency or a college or university to study the use of poison on feral hogs before it could be put into use.

The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service is supportive of the use of bait for feral hog population control. The Extension Service estimates that feral hogs cause upwards of 52 million dollars of damage to Texas agricultural enterprises each year.

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