City scrambling for trapper after wild hogs invade Columbia Heights neighborhood

An elderly woman has grown tired of wild hogs after they invaded her Columbia Heights neighborhood in southeast Columbus four weeks ago.

“This is getting to be a very scary problem,” said Anna Mims who is disabled and has healthcare providers entering her home daily in the 400 block of Bowen Boulevard. “They are scared to come into my house and take care of me.”

More than four years after dispatching a professional trapper to control a pack of wild hogs encroaching on property along Chattsworth Road, the Consolidated Government is looking for one to go after hogs in the Columbia Heights area, said Pat Biegler, director of Public Works which includes Animal Control.

The city hopes to have a contract with a professional trapper sometime this week. It may take a couple of weeks or longer to trap a pack of wild hogs if they move around and are difficult to locate.

Mims, who uses a wheelchair, stays inside on most days, but her healthcare providers have spotted them rooting around the front door looking for food. “They are digging up my yard,” Mims said. “What am I going to do?”

Some areas of her yard look more like what you would find on a pig farm instead of a well kept lawn. That includes scattered piles of droppings left behind.

“I don’t know if there are roots, especially around my rose bush,” she said.

About 7 a.m., one health worker saw as many as seven in the yard preventing her from entering the house. “She got a block and threw it after one,” Mims said. “She called and said she was out there but the hogs were in the yard.”

Visitors to her home also have seen wild hogs near Shirley Winston Park and along stretches of Steam Mill Road.

According to the Georgia Department of Natural resources, feral hogs in the state include some nearly pure Eurasian or Russian wild boar, free-ranging domestic hogs and hybrids between the two. They may be found in dense brush for protection and some in woodlands and grassy areas.

Wild hogs are omnivorous, eating almost anything grown from grain. They prefer acorns when available but also will eat invertebrates such as centipedes, leeches, earthworms and crayfish. Wild hogs have been known to travel up to seven miles to feast on fields of corn and soybeans.

They may prey on small wildlife, livestock and other small animals.

This is not the first time Mims has encountered a problem with animals. While living on Washington Avenue in Columbus, she said there were chickens in the neighborhood near Ninth Street. “They would go from place to place to lay eggs and then hatch them,” she said.

She said the chickens are still in that neighborhood decades later. When asked which one would she rather contend with today, she said, “I’ll take the chickens.”

If you’ve seen something that needs attention, give me a call.

This story was originally published March 11, 2018 at 7:30 PM with the headline "City scrambling for trapper after wild hogs invade Columbia Heights neighborhood."