Big Pig Kill On Santa Cruz Island Sparks Lawsuit

There is a 96-square-mile island off the Santa Barbara, California coast, called Santa Cruz Island, not to be confused with the town of Santa Cruz, some distance to the north. Santa Cruz Island is home to about 3,000 wild pigs, the progeny of porkers brought there in the 19th century for ranches now long gone. The National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy have agreed the pigs must be eradicated because they threaten an endangered species on the island, the Santa Cruz fox. They have hired a company from New Zealand to kill the 3,000 pigs for $5 million, and porcine bounty hunters began work several weeks ago.

Normally, all this would fairly warm the cockles of my heart, not so much because I automatically support draconian actions to preserve "endangered" species; in fact, I think a fair amount more scammery occurs under this sacred banner than some folks like to admit. Rather, there are simply times when animals must be put in their place, and that can mean being put down, if their impingement upon the human or natural environment becomes too substantial. This has been the case with kangaroos, and should perhaps be the case with grackles.

This one's a bit more complicated. An opponent of the big pig kill who's filing suit asserts the pig eradication plan is flawed.

A Santa Barbara man sued the federal government and an environmental group Wednesday for approving the killing of thousands of pigs on Santa Cruz Island as part of an effort to save the endangered foxes that also live there.....Experts say eliminating the pigs will save the fox by forcing golden eagles to search elsewhere for food. The golden eagles have been feasting on foxes and piglets. (Santa Barbara resident Richard) Feldman, who is acting as his own attorney, said that logic makes no sense.

I'm no naturalist, not even a naturist. But the logic here is that it's the piglets that really draw the golden eagles to the island, an unfortunate side effect being that along with tasty raw pork, the eagles also like to snack on the little foxes, which are more like domesticated cats in size and appearance. According to another report, some Golden Eagles are being relocated to the Sierra Nevada to help protect the foxes, as well.

Perhaps the most pressing question of all: what will happen with the 3,000 dead pigs? I'd hate to see all that free-range BBQ go to waste.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at May 27, 2005 07:00 AM

---

---