I live near the park.
To answer all your questions, these populations of European wild boars were established before the park was, when they were imported and kept on a hunting preserve nearby.
They have no predators to keep the populations in check, so the numbers have exploded. The hogs also move into the nearby Cherokee National Forest, where they can be hunted.
The U.S. Park Service has very few properties where hunting is allowed, and the Smokies doesn’t allow it. Therefore the USPS, which is always whining about needing more money, has to pay sharpshooters to thin these, when they could charge permit fees and let the public do it.
I think this biologist is WAY off base suggesting hunters are releasing domestic pigs to breed with these. There are not enough hunters to hunt these now, and they are plentiful in the Cumberland Plateau and public hunting areas all over the eastern part of Tennessee.
Therefore, boar hunting guide operations have increased (along with the hog population) up on the Cumberland Plateau. But still more needs to be done. These are being very destructive to the native flora and fawna in the Smokies, but political correctness will never allow the problem there to be solved.
I live just off the Stones River now in Rutherford Co. and if one dares venture in my sight it is one dead animal.
I knew some folks who had a cabin up in Elkmont. One of them was charged by a wild boar while they were out jogging. Apparently they can be pretty aggressive.
We have wild pigs here in central TN as well. My neighbor told me he saw a number of them behind his house. He is a hunter, and eventually got a few, and they seem to have moved on.
About 20 years ago I had a great big (I mean BIG!) pig wander down my driveway. I called animal control, and the first question they asked me was “is it pink or brown?” It was pink. They never did show up, and the pig wandered off after a while.
Now, since I live in the country, one might assume he wandered off from a neighbor’s farm. However, we had no pigs on any farms anywhere near us! I still have no idea where he came from.
(Nice to see you girl)