More Local news

• Police beat: Jan. 10, 2009
• Lee County police beat: Jan. 9, 2009
• Naples police repair vandalized sign at River Park church

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Share and Enjoy [?]

Robert Vines’ backyard in Stoneybrook is being torn up by a large wild hog that continues to elude trappers.

The hog has been burrowing up backyards of the Estero golfing community as he forages for tasty roots and grubs.

“It looks like someone has taken a pick ax and ripped up the turf,” he said.“For some reason, I have been singled out for punishment.”

He may feel that way, but it’s not true. Wildlife experts say wild hogs, as well as an abundance of other exotic animals, have been around Southwest Florida for years.

But in recent years, they have become more noticeable to residents who have moved into newer communities abutting the wildlife habitat.

When the summer rains soak the hogs’ habitat, they often migrate to drier land, often residents’ backyards.

Vines hired trapper Scott Flavelle to trap the hog in Stoneybrook, a community located at Corkscrew Road and Interstate 75.

Flavelle recently was called out to pick up a boa constrictor that was seen slithering down the street of a San Carlos Park neighborhood.

To catch this elusive hog in Stoneybrook, Flavelle baited the trap with corn and molasses.

But the hog hasn’t fallen for it yet.

Instead, he has decided to start dining on Vines’ neighbor’s yard, where there is not a trap.

Flavelle said this hog, which could weigh 150 pounds, is no dumb cookie.

“He has to be smart to live that long,” Flavelle said.“The dumber ones usually get weeded out early.”

Vines said the hog has really done a number on his neighbor’s yard.

“My poor neighbor. Luckily, he’s not a yard person,” Vines said.“My neighbor had the most beautiful yard. This has done a little bit of devastation to it.”

He said on one occasion, the hog looked him in the eye, almost taunting him, as he was dining in his neighbor’s yard on bird seed.

“He sort of stared at me and my wife and kept on eating,” he said.

Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said wild hogs have been part of the natural habitat of Southwest Florida for years. He said residents who live in these newer golf course communities can get the surprise of their lives by seeing their lawns mowed up by these hogs.

“When you see urban areas expand into areas where traditionally we’ve had wildlife habitat, you not only run into hogs, but alligators,” he said.“Hogs are very noticeable simply because of the damage they do to people’s lawns.”

Morse said the hogs gravitate toward the newer communities with fresh landscaping.

“Older communities have generally eliminated the problem. There is nothing there for animals to eat,” he said.

Morse said anyone who spots a wild hog in his yard can contact trappers that are listed on that agency’s Web site, www.myfwc.com.

Stoneybrook is not the only community that has encountered wild hogs lately. Cross Creek Country Club, a community off Daniels Parkway, hasn’t had a problem with wild hogs in the last couple of months after putting up a fence to keep them out. But the community trapped 300 of them in the year and a half prior to that.

Wild hogs have also been munching on residents’ backyards in nearby Cross Creek Estates, where fences are also being installed to keep the animals out.

“We’ve caught a total of seven little ones, piglets. There are maybe one or two larger hogs running around, but nowhere near what Cross Creek Country Club has had,” said Marie Gottschalk, association manager for Cross Creek Estates.

She said the summer rains have caused the hogs to migrate from nearby Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve into residential neighborhoods.

Trapper Bobby Lovell said residents need to beware of these hogs, as they have razor-sharp teeth three to five inches long that they could lunge into a person.

“They could rip you wide open,” he said.“People definitely do not need to feed them. They are very dangerous animals.

“If the animal loses their fear, one day you could be feeding them and, bam, the animal will rush you.”

Wild hogs are not the only exotic animals to be seen roaming through gated golf course communities lately that could pose a threat to people.

Coyotes were recently spotted at the golf course by Bonita Bay. Flavelle said the community recently asked him about trapping the animals, but decided not to go ahead with the job.

“We gave them an estimate. They are not the easiest animals to catch.

It gets pretty involving,” Flavelle said.

He said generally speaking, coyotes are not a threat to people. But he noted that if they grouped together in a pack, they might be emboldened to attack a person.

Flavelle’s company has also been hired to trap monitor lizards, which have been showing up in yards in southwest Cape Coral.

“They eat meat. They are having a negative effect on the burrowing owl population. They’ll eat owls,” he said.

He said the lizards, which grow up to seven feet long, can also eat a small dog or cat.

“They might attack (a person) if they were threatened. They have really, really sharp claws that are nasty,” he said.