Gateway to Hog Heaven

This is a hog trap we spotted while hiking through Seabranch Preserve State Park. Feral hogs are a nuisance, the very definition of invasive. They're the descendants of domesticated hogs brought here by the Spanish during the 1500s and left to roam the wilds of the state. The idea being the hogs would establish themselves here, and future explorers or settlers could hunt them and use them for food. The hogs have become a serious problem over much of the country; in larger preserves in Florida, they're hunted as a means of controlling the population, but at smaller, urban places like Seabranch, the state uses traps like this one instead. We don't know for sure the fate of the captured hogs, but it's a fair guess that they don't end up in petting zoos.

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