SALEM Aggressive wild pigs that tear up meadows and streambanks could be killed and trapped like cougars and coyotes under a bill proposed in the Oregon Legislature.

The state’s population of feral swine gained attention last year when a 520-square-mile control area was established in Crook County near Post. The pigs, some believed to be escapees of a game ranch, aren’t just wild versions of domestic market hogs. State biologists say some could be wild Russian or European boars, hairy animals which can weigh in at 300 or more pounds, grow tusks of five inches and outrun deer.

The legislation proposed by the Oregon Department of Agriculture would reclassify the wild pigs from livestock to predators, which would give land owners the green light to kill the animals without worrying they might run into legal trouble, said deputy director Chuck Craig.

”This way, land owners can take care of the problem without government involvement,” he said.

Under the law today, someone potentially could say they owned a wild pig that was killed and demand compensation.

The new classification also would eliminate the need for establishing control areas, Craig said, which would clear the way for nuisance pigs to be killed anywhere in the state. ”The existing procedure is cumbersome and bureaucratic.”

The proposal has won the early support of the Oregon Farm Bureau, said lobbyist Pete Test.

”Right now, this is just an issue in some small parts of the state, but if we don’t get on top of it, it will be a nightmare,” Test said.

If unchecked, wild swine populations potentially double every four months, government officials have said. Feral pigs tear up the ground in search of edible vegetation and are known to carry several diseases transferable to cattle, including brucellosis and pseudorabies.

They are blamed for damage to meadows at an 18,000-acre nature preserve east of Post managed which is by the Nature Conservancy.

Craig said the pigs are known or suspected to live in four parts of the state: in Crook County, Wheeler County, the Antelope area in Jefferson and Wasco counties and in Southern Oregon between the coast and Klamath Falls.

State Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, whose district includes Crook County, said he sees no downside to the proposal, at least upon first glance.

”We should do everything we can to assist local landowners in taking care of these animals,” he said. ”My first take is that this would be a valuable tool.”