LSONews.com
Lone✯Star Outdoor News
February 11, 2011
Page 5
Feral hogs found carrying dangerous bacteria
Annual varmint tournament draws 69 teams
By Bill Miller
The Second Annual Lone Star Lexington Varmint Tournament was held on Jan. 29 and 30, with 69 teams competing. The winning team, D&S Boys, comprised of Forrest Moore, Wayne Orender and Brentt Raybion, turned in one bobcat, four foxes and four raccoons to take home the top prize of $4,140. Teams came from all over, but the contest was based in Lexington. The scoring system gave points for mountain lions, bobcats, foxes, coyotes and raccoons. Side pots were awarded for heaviest animals and mangiest coyote. In all, 15 bobcats, 26 coyotes, 16 foxes and 144 raccoons were turned into the check station. —Staff report
LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS History shows that various nations including the U.S. have experimented with making weapons from bacteria, including one that can cause the disease tularemia. High levels of it were recently found in two test groups of feral hogs — one from the Panhandle, the other from Central Texas. It’s called Francisella tularensis, but finding it in the wild and converting it into a weapon are two entirely different processes. Therefore, most people should not be alarmed by the recent discoveries in feral hogs, researchers said. But public health officials have long said that people who hunt wild pigs should guard against many bacteria. And the recent high levels of Francisella tularensis found in hogs reinforces that concern, said a Texas Tech University researcher who helped make the discoveries. “The bacteria can enter any sort of small cut or hangnail,” said Dr. Steve Presley. “If you are handling or cleaning or eating wild game, particularly hogs, deer or rabbits, you should be wearing rubber gloves and eye protection.” And all pork should be thoroughly cooked until it reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees, Presley said. Tularemia, commonly called “rabbit fever,” is potentially fatal for people. Approximately 126 human cases of the disease are reported each year in the U.S., reported
Weishuhn to premiere new show this summer
CARRIERS: Researchers from Texas Tech University have found feral hogs carrying high levels of the bacteria that can cause the disease tularemia. Researchers said there is no major public health threat, although pig hunters should guard against many bacteria. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From 2000 to 2008, only eight cases of tularemia were reported in Texas, according to information from Tech. But it can be a very serious disease if the bacterium enters the body, Presley said. “Get it in a cut on the skin, and you can get a big lesion,” he said. “Breathe it into the lungs, and you get a pneumonic form of the sickness. “Get it in the eye and it can blind you.” Presley is an associate professor at Tech’s Institute of Environmental and Human
Health. He explained that his team was trying to track diseases carried by feral hogs which, he noted, started appearing in large numbers about five years ago on the Panhandle. Samples were taken from about 130 pigs from Crosby County and Bell and Coryell counties in Central Texas. The researchers took samples from the Central Texas test group to compare with the hogs tested in the Panhandle. According to the tests, 50 percent of the Crosby County pigs and 15 percent of the ones from Central Texas showed evidence
of current or past infection with Francisella tularensis. Some of the pigs, Presley said, “were actively infected with it.” “I was surprised to see it in such a high incidence rate,” he added. “The bacteria are constantly present in animals in this area and the feral hog population, but normally it’s only a small number of cases.” Presley said his team is expanding its research to determine if more pigs carry the bacteria. “That’s really all we can do,” he said. But, he concluded, “As far as a public health threat, we’re not at that point right now.”
“A Hunter’s Life,” a new television series featuring Texan Larry Weishuhn, will premiere on Sportsman Channel’s “Big Game Wednesdays” this summer at 10 p.m. The show will chronicle Weishuhn, better known as “Mr. Whitetail,” from his days as a youth hunting squirrels to the present day. “To have an icon like Weishuhn on our network with a brand new series says multitudes about where Sportsman Channel is headed in 2011,” said Gavin Harvey, the channel’s CEO. “We seek out the best of the best and are building our primetime weeknight blocks with non-stop hardcore hunting action.” The series also will showcase Weishuhn’s life as a biologist, conservationist and hunter. Beyond hunting just whitetail, Weishuhn will take on other big game species, such as moose, bear and elk. The show’s creators promise an upbeat show with more action on the ground and less chatting to the screen. “We’ll do things on this show that have never been done before on outdoor television,” Weishuhn said. “Some of it will shock, some will be interesting and we aren’t ’flagging’ it to our viewers. You’ll simply just have to watch the show.” —Staff report