These past two months have been crazy for me!April was Guam's first Pig Derby. As I stated earlier in my blog. The feral pig population has increased on island and has led to damage to infrastructure, loss of plants, and soil erosion. So, on April 13 and 14, hunters hunted for feral pigs to help reduce their population across the island. The hunters checked in at various mayors' offices. The Dededo, Agana Heights, Talofofo, and Santa Rita mayors' offices were the places the hunters checked in and checked out.The hunt began a half-hour before sunrise and ended at 5:30 p.m. All pigs were counted at that time. At each station, was the rhino-beetle team, their job was to check the stomach content and to see if the Wild pigs are eating the rhino-beetles.
Aguarin and I were stationed in Dededo. We handled registration. We waited for the hunters to come back with some game. Sadly, Dededo had zero, but this information helped us for future derbys. The hunters noticed that it was harder to find the pigs because it was just too hot! The pigs usually hide when its hot or go near the water which made it harder the hunters to catch. However, Talofofo represented with six pigs killed. Joey Terlaje and Joseph Castro fromTalofofo location brought two pigs. One was about 113 pounds and the other was about 84 pounds.The Pig Hunting Derby was an overall success. I cant wait until they do it again.
Until next time Micronesia,
Francine Cruz