JACKSONVILLE-For years, feral hogs have destroyed crops and land in East Texas. Now, one East Texas city has had it and they've started setting traps to make sure the problem doesn't get worse.
For years feral hogs have been coming out of the woods to find food and water, but now the city of Jacksonville is seeing hogs coming into the city by the dozen to do just that.
The City of Jacksonville is stopping its feral hog problem dead in its tracks. The battle between the citizens of Jacksonville and the hogs has been ongoing since 2008. And fast forward to today, it looks like neither side is willing to surrender.
"It's a constant chess game," Mayor of Jacksonville, Robert Haberle, said. "We'll make one move and they'll move, but we just keep battling them as we go."
These fury creatures have been migrating from deep inside the piney woods to private properties inside city limits.
The problems gotten so bad that the city's had to step in and set up traps in areas where the amount of hoof tracks are greatest.
Since setting up the traps, more than 100 have taken the bait.
But as soon as they have the issue brought to a minimum in one part of the city, trouble will have already started brewing in another part.
"They're like everything else, there searching for food and water right now," Haberle said.
The trouble these animals leave behind can cost landowners thousands of dollars.
"Its a tremendous amount of property damage to a lawn, field or crops," he said.
And property owners in Jacksonville don't have to sit back and take it. Along with setting their own traps, Mayor Haberle said they can also use force.
No matter if you live in the city limits or not, he said its there right to protect their property.
"You just got to be real careful because your responsible for that bullet from the time it leaves the gun until the time it reaches the destination and whatever is in the path of that."