Feral swine bill signed into law

Ohio’s pig farmers, along with many others in the state’s agricultural community, are offering praise to Gov. DeWine for signing H.B. 503 into law. Known as the Feral Swine bill, it prohibits the importing of non-native feral swine into the state, which are widely known to carry a host of deadly diseases, viruses, and parasites, and cause up to $2.5 million in losses to livestock, land, and crops each year.

“This is a great day for Ohio’s pork industry and for all of our state’s agricultural interests,” said Cheryl Day, Ohio Pork Council executive vice president. “We certainly want to express our sincere thanks for the amazing bipartisan support that this vital piece of legislation was shown in both houses of the state legislature. This kind of support is not taken for granted.”

For their part, Rep. Don Jones and Rep. Bob Peterson co-sponsored the bill through the legislative process with a major assist by Sen. Tim Schaffer. Day credits them and their colleagues for understanding what was at stake to make protecting Ohio’s biggest industry — agriculture — their top priority.

Other groups joined in with their support for H.B. 503 during its time in the legislative process, which include Ohio Farm Bureau, Ohio Dairy Producers Association, Ohio Cattleman’s Association, Ohio Soybean Association, Ohio Sheep Improvement Association, Ohio Poultry Association, Ohio Corn & Wheat Growers Association, and the Ohio Forestry Association.

While 44 states have some type of ban on importing feral swine, only 16 have a total ban, which now includes Ohio, making it 17 states with such a law.

“We thank Ohio lawmakers, the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and Gov. DeWine for taking this monumental step in bringing greater protection of our state’s livestock and crop producers,” Day said.