https://m.sfgate.com/sfhistory...ame-for-14916088.php

One eccentric socialite is to blame for California's wild pig problem

A California feral wild boar, the direct result of George Gordon Moore's hunting escapades in the 1920s. Photo: Steve Maslowski/Getty Images/Visuals Unlimited
Photo: Steve Maslowski/Getty Images/Visuals Unlimited
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A California feral wild boar, the direct result of George Gordon Moore's hunting escapades in the 1920s.
California's wild pigs are massive and ubiquitous. They can grow into 200-pound ripping machines. They tear up lawns and destroy hillsides. Their gruesome teeth can even threaten humans and pets.

And they're here, rooting up our landscaping, because of one mercurial millionaire.

Today's wild pigs are a hybrid breed, a mixture of two animals that have no place in California. The first is the standard domesticated pig, introduced by Spanish colonizers in the mid-1700s. Russian immigrants also apparently let some loose near Fort Ross in Sonoma in the 1800s. And as Gold Rush settlers flowed into the state, they killed the hogs’ biggest predator, the bear. So the once-domestic pig spread, becoming a feral pig out in the wild.

But it wouldn’t meet its love match until the 1920s, when George Gordon Moore imported the first European wild boar.

Moore was born in Wyoming, Canada in the 1880s and got his law degree by age 21. He practiced for a few years before growing bored and switching to finance. He quickly acquired a reputation as a shrewd financier in Europe and, oddly, a war tactician. According to a 1941 society column in the San Francisco Chronicle, he advised British Field Marshal John French during World War I.

“He was the man most responsible for the failure of several of the last German drives,” the Chronicle wrote.

After the war, Moore moved to San Francisco where he quickly began using his millions to fund his twin passions: horses and hunting. He opened the San Mateo Polo Club, the spot to see and be seen for Bay Area elite. But that wasn’t enough for the ostentatious Moore: In 1923, he purchased a 20,000 Carmel Valley estate to create a theme park for the wealthy.

Rancho San Carlos cost $400,000 (over $6 million in today’s money) and Moore reportedly sank over one million more into improvements. He built polo grounds, a lake and planned on adding a golf course. In the massive hacienda, he added a bedroom for each of the polo players on the international traveling team he funded. And, of course, he started setting European wild boars loose on the property for hunting excursions.

The height of the Bay Area social scene was getting an invitation to Rancho San Carlos. Barbecues and weekend soirees made the local newspapers regularly, attended by Hollywood stars and newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.

“A retinue of servants, led by a huge, handsome Jamaican, served [Moore] night and day,” a 1941 Chronicle story boasted.

“Sleep was something unheard of on the ranch,” it added.

Soon, Moore’s European boars encountered the feral pig population and began breeding, creating the California wild pig hybrid we see today. They loved the ecosystem, finding plenty of grasses, fruits and tubers to eat. Less than 10 years after being introduced, Moore’s wild hogs were seen up to 40 miles away. In 1936, the Chronicle reported hunters finding rubbings against a tree left by a hog that were over four feet high; that meant the hog weighed over 600 pounds.

An oft repeated story in the history of Texas also.

No one but hunters would want to thank this chap!

The difference is that California treats them as a proper game animal.

The Spanish introduced the pigs in the 1600's. People like Randolph Hearst and others introduced European Wildboars and improved hogs in the 1930-1950's.

They certainly are tasty although they may overrun the state like they did in Texas.

quote:

Originally posted by Blacktailer:
they may overrun the state like they did in Texas.

I’be always wondered about that. I moved out of California in 2012 but in the couple of decades preceding my exit I didn’t see any real sign of a population explosion like Texas has experienced. And I never heard any concern that the population might explode.

The Wild turkey population on the other hand seemed to take off like wildfire.

I wonder why Texas is over run with hogs and California’s population has remained somewhat stable.

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Originally posted by Mike_Dettorre:

quote:

I wonder why Texas is over run with hogs and California’s population has remained somewhat stable.

Could it be because they have corn feeders for them all over the place?

I hadn’t thought of that. Kind of ironic in a state where many people want to reduce or eliminate the wild hogs.

California's population is not stable. They are expanding into areas where they had not previously been seen. The droughts tend to knock them back significantly though and a lot of areas don't have enough surface water to support them.

While drought years certainly do drop pig populations, they are prolific breeders. Ranch I hunt on 6000 acres outside of King City you can go thru drought and have hardly any pigs and those there are in bad shape. A couple of wet winters like we have had and boom they are back. Water is gold as the pigs need to water everyday.