There is evidence that hunting ranches/preserves, either due to escapes or intentional releases, contribute to the expansion of wild pig populations. Several states have made it illegal to sell hunts for wild pigs. In 2024, the Ohio General Assembly unanimously passed, and the Governor signed into law, H.B. 503. The bill prohibited profiting from the release, hunting or killing of wild pigs.
Shortly before the law was to take effect in early 2025, Shawnee Ridge, a hunting preserve located along the Kentucky border that makes a lot of money selling pig hunts ($950 per animal, according to their website), went to court to stop the law. They argued that the bill was unconstitutionally vague, and won a restraining order. Shawnee Ridge’s lawyers pointed out that the bill’s definition of wild pigs, “members of the family Suidae,” included both wild and domestic pigs.
Although the bill was later amended to clarify the definition, what makes a pig wild or feral was a big part of arguments in court. During a preliminary injunction hearing, Leighland Arehart, a law enforcement program administrator with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, gave a “I know it when I see it” definition of what a wild pig is. In court, attorneys played through different scenarios in an attempt at clarity: If a “domestic” pig escaped from a farm and made its way to Shawnee Ridge, they would be considered a wild pig. On the other hand, if the hunting preserve confined pigs but didn’t make them available for hunting, those animals would not be considered wild under the new law.
To sum up, Mr. Arehart and an attorney had this interesting exchange:
“Q: Mr. Arehart can we agree that wild boar, however you define them and domestic pigs, however you define them, can both become feral pigs or swine?
A: Yes.
Q: Okay. But they are not inherently feral pigs or swine until the circumstances arise that makes them feral pigs or swine, correct?
A: Correct.”
Wild pigs can become domesticated; domestic pigs can become wild.
Last month, an Ohio appeals court ruled that the definition problem would make H.B. 503 difficult to enforce, and for this and other reasons it was struck down as unconstitutional. So it’s back to the drawing board for the Ohio legislature.