Biologists from the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division removed a total of 24 feral hogs from a site in Dallas County Sunday, as part of the department's ongoing efforts to tamp down on wild pig populations on state lands.

When the state-managed lands are not being used for hunting due to closed seasons, WFF employees employ traps to attempt to catch entire groups of hogs, called sounders, according to Marianne Hudson, spokesman for the Wildlife Division.

The operation was conducted by WFF biologist Justin Gilchrist and laborer Jacob Armstrong. A photo from the hunt was posted on the division's Facebook page, with the caption declaring "We GO WHOLE HOG in our efforts to remove feral swine from management lands."

Hudson said the Division undertakes many maintenance projects this time of year, including road work, plantings and wildlife management.

"This time of year is busier than hunting season for us," Hudson said. "Trapping feral swine is an important endeavor this time of year."

Feral swine are one of Alabama's most destructive invasive species, causing millions of dollars in property and wildlife damage every year just in Alabama, and an estimated $1.5 billion nationwide.

Hogs are notorious for digging out farmers' crops, or people's back yards. They also trample stream beds, leading to increased erosion issues, and spread e. Coli bacteria into streams and creeks.

The hogs in the photo -- 10 boars and 14 sows -- were caught in a trap and dispatched with a firearm , but that's hardly the most extreme method used to try to combat these worrisome invaders.

Wildlife officials and property owners have used techniques ranging from trapping to aerial hunts in helicopters to using radio transmitters to track "Judas" hogs back to their sounder groups.

Still, it appears these high-tech and time-intensive techniques can only slow the expansion of the wild pig population.

According to Mark Smith, an associate professor of forestry at Auburn University who specializes in wild pig damage management for the Alabama Cooperative Extension, it's estimated that pigs can reproduce so quickly that in any given territory, managers would have to kill 80 percent of the existing population in a year just to keep the overall pig numbers from growing.

Sows can birth dozens of piglets in a year, and the offspring, male and female, reach sexual maturity in less than a year.

Most feral hogs encountered in Alabama are a genetic mix between escaped pigs from agricultural operations and wild hogs that have roamed the woods since Spanish explorers set them loose in the Southeast back in the 1500s.

This sounder of wild hogs -- 14 sows and 10 boars -- was trapped and dispatched by the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division in Dallas County on June 3, 2018. The hogs are an invasive species that causes significant damage to property and native wildlife.

Much of the meat from the swine trapped on state land is donated to local families, Hudson said.

It is typically illegal to sell feral hog meat on the market because food safety standards require a pig be inspected alive and again after slaughter before being commercially sold. The meat can still be utilized as long it is not sold.

Transporting a live pig is also illegal, as human transport has been a key factor in helping the hogs -- who typically don't wander far from home -- spread to new areas sometimes hundreds of miles away.

"We're pretty darn sure that pigs cannot fly," Smith said. "They're kind of homebodies."

In 2016, state game officers arrested 16 people for illegally transporting hogs in Alabama.

There is no closed season and no bag limit for hog hunting in Alabama, but some local restrictions apply. For example, Alabama's Wildlife Management Areas prohibit hog hunting during the closed seasons for other animals to allow WFF personnel to conduct coordinated trapping operations which are believed to be more effective at controlling hog populations than sporadic hunting by the public.

Landowners can hunt hogs on their property during daylight hours only, Hudson said. If a landowner believes a hog problem necessitates hunting after dark, they must contact their WFF District Office and obtain a permit for night hunting.