Bacon Preservative Tested As Feral Hog Poison

Scientists with U.S. Department of Agriculture say sodium nitrite may be the best chance for controlling the big, prolific animals, which cost the U.S. about $1.5 billion a year— including $800 million in farm damage.

Vance Taylor of Brooksville, Mississippi, hires a hunter and sometimes heaps corn away from his fields to distract feral hogs. He says they cost him 40 to 60 acres of corn and soybeans annually and once rooted up about 170 acres of sprouting corn.

Sodium nitrite is more toxic to pigs than people. It's used to kill feral swine in Australia and New Zealand.

USDA scientists say sodium nitrite tests are a top priority in a new $20 million control program.