Nov. 21, 2023 -

The other day while tending to the bee yards, a family of about 10 wild boar decided to watch me from the distance.  Initially I had no idea that I was being watched because I was busy taking care of a few bee hives.  The bees were a little bit annoyed with me and so I was being extra careful not to get stung.  Little did I know a family of boar were watching me from a close distance.   When I looked up, there were several boar about 50 feet away from me trying to figure out what I was doing.  They were really curious and didn't appear to be a threat.  I didn't know whether to get in my truck and wait for them to leave or to get my camera and get a few shots of the family.  I started to recall all the stories I heard about how dangerous they are and how they violently attack everyone they see, but that didn't seem to be the case.  I slowly got my camera and started walking towards them.  It was dusk and so I was only able to get a few grainy shots.  Every time I tried to get close to them, they would walk away.  After years of experience living near humans, they probably no longer trust humans. 

While driving home from the bee yard, I couldn't help but think about that family of boar.  I was hoping that they found some food for their family that day.  If you mention wild boar to most Texas farmers you will hear them say how horrible the boar is and you must "kill the boar" any chance you get. 

That brings us to the question, why farmers do not like the wild boar?  They say that it damages farms.  If you spend some time and look at the area the boars uproot, new plants spring up in these areas.  The boar increases bio-diversity.  So many farms around the world are locked in the cycle of monoculture.  What does that mean?  For hundreds of acres they plant one crop.  An example is the almond fields of California.  For hundreds of acres you have one species of almond.  There is zero genetic diversity.  Another example are the banana plantations.  Once again, for hundreds of acres only one species of banana is planted with zero diversity.  Why is zero genetic diversity bad?  One virus or plant disease can wipe out the entire species.  How is the wild boar connected to all of this?  The boar are disruptors and they are creating holes in the farmers thought process.  They are creating biodiversity in areas they "damage."  Most farmers unfortunately think monoculture is good and the boar are going against the farmers mode of thinking. 

Nature has a way of fixing mistakes humans make.  All the monoculture farms around the world are a sad mistake and boars are slowly fixing this problem.  These monoculture farms are maintained with large amounts of herbicides and pesticides.  Slowly by slowly boars are removing monoculture farms.  So please don't shot the boars.