Feral Hog Damage in Royal Shores
As you may have heard -- and seen on the median at Willow Terrace entry to Royal Shores -- many parts of Kingwood are dealing with an invasion of feral hogs. Local NBC affiliate KPRC has done at least two stories about this problem; you can see the latest on the link at the bottom of this message.
Since there are no natural predators to help mediate the growing feral hog population in Kingwood, they are spreading throughout the community and are causing more widespread damage. Keith Crenshaw, urban biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, says that within the confines of Kingwood, it is East End Park, Royal Shores, Kings Point and The Reserve at Kings Point that have the biggest problem with the hogs because of their proximity to the lake. As you may have noticed, the damage at the Willow Terrace entrance is substantial. The Royal Shores Community Association (RSCA) is working with the landscape crews to find creative and reasonably priced temporary solutions to the damage. We are concerned about spending possibly thousands of dollars to repair the damage while the hogs continue to be an imminent threat to the community's landscaping. As a result, the RSCA has been in contact with the Kingwood Service Association (KSA) and other community associations to try to develop an effect plan for the removal of these pests.
Unfortunately, KSA will, for now, only work to mitigate the problem in East End Park, according to Dee Price, KSA president, and is in the process of doing so. KSA has a trapper who is working to capture and remove the hogs from East End Park, but the communities are largely on their own. To further complicate the issue, while the hogs may do damage in the neighborhoods in the evenings, they largely reside and spend their daytime hours on property owned by KSA (ie, East End Park) or by Friendswood Development Co. (FDC), which puts the individual community associations in a bit of a bind in terms of long-term mitigation since they do not own the property.
Contact has been made with Texas State Senate Representative Tommy Williams (Karen Campbell) and State Representative Dan Huberty in order to determine if any state funds might be available for a concerted effort to catch the hogs. The board has also pursued assistance from the City of Houston through Councilman Dave Martin. The board will continue to pursue this issue with our neighboring community associations, KSA, FDC, and the government representatives. We will keep you informed as appropriate.
RSCA Board of Directors
9/16/2013
(This link will take you to the most recent KPRC story: http://www.click2houston.com/news/feral-hogs-invade-kingwood-neighborhood/-/1735978/21895114/-/14j22oi/-/index.html)