We drove rather early to Goliad this morning to get our grandchildren for a day or so. I saw a large black animal cross the highway about a half mile in front of me. It was about the heighth of a small calf. It was a huge feral hog. A black one. We were driving through the O'Conner Ranch. A few miles later wild hogs began to cross the road in front of me. I could not count them but estimated at least twenty. They were all black. Feral hogs. Feral (wild) hogs roam most of Texas today. Estimates are they number more than one and a half million. They can be very destructive as they search out food. They root and dig into the earth. They also can be hard on feeders of all kinds. They are a big problem.
Hogs are not too popular in the Bible. Their meat is a forbidden one in the Old Testament for the Jew. That continues into the New. You will probably remember that Jesus sent a group of demons into a herd of hogs and they plunged into the sea. There was no apology to the hog owner.
I am a pork lover. I like bacon and loin and chops as much as beef. The pork I eat, however, comes from the domestic animals fattened for market. Some feral hogs are delicious and some are awful. I killed an awful one a few years ago. Had it made into sausage. Couldn't even stand to cook it for the odor, and it wasn't spoiled. I guess the feral hogs are here to stay. Watch out for them at night between Rockport and Tivoli. They can wreck a car or motorcycle.
