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Kehoe on feral hog issue

Missouri Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe says he understands the problems feral hogs are causing farmers in southern Missouri. Twelve years ago, Kehoe had 80 feral hogs on his farm – where they trapped 32 and killed 32, “They can destroy property overnight.”

Kehoe tells Brownfield he also understands the federal government has concerns about hunting feral hogs on public lands, “How much of these are people who want to hunt (feral hogs) for the sport and how many of these people interested in this issue are farmers trying to protect, in my case, hay fields? Other cases might be soybeans, corn, etc.” Kehoe says it’s a fine line and an emotional discussion.

The Missouri Department of Conservation has agreed to the hunting ban on federal lands, including the Mark Twain National Forest, “They (Conservation) feel like they have a solution that might work. The average rural Missourian who understands what wild hogs are like feel like their solution will never work. And that’s where the rub is right now.”

Farmers who border the national forest are upset about the ban but Kehoe says everyone needs to give the Conservation Department a chance to see if its new plan of stepping up trapping and hunting works. Kehoe says government should show the data and be held accountable if it doesn’t.

Interview with Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe

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