Unleashing innovation while reining in wild hogs: Grants helped jump start research that reaches a milestone
In the fight against feral hogs, Ann Reiley Jones calls herself a fundraiser and cheerleader. She is also the spark that ignited research on controlling what has become a $91 million problem for Louisiana farmers.
About 10 years ago, Jones noticed an uptick in the pig population on her East Feliciana property, which is adjacent to the LSU AgCenter Bob R. Jones-Idlewild Research Station, named in honor of her late father. Station director at the time Dearl Sanders noticed the same.
“They are so nasty, so ugly and so mean, and they carry all kinds of diseases,” Jones said. “Dearl and I decided, let’s try to do something about the pigs because they were horrible then, and of course, they are 100 times worse now.”