Dead boars, hungry vultures plaguing Bradenton

BRADENTON -- Someone has been dumping wild boar carcasses into the Wares Creek basin, which is attracting vultures to feed, a Bradenton City Council member said today.

Six carcasses have been dumped over about the same number of weeks in the vicinity of the basin, just south of the Manatee Avenue Bridge, Councilman Pat Roff said,

Most of the meat from the animals was removed, he said during a council workshop meeting.

“There recently has been rash of wild boars showing up in the creek -- people are killing animals out east, bringing them into town and dumping the rest in the creek,” Roff told the council. “Yes, buzzards do eat parts of them, but not all of them.”

He called the practice “unsanitary, unsightly, and certainly not civilized.”

When he asked City Attorney Bill Lisch whether the dumping was illegal, Lisch replied, “Do we need to start a pig patrol?”

Bradenton police aren’t sure what to do when they receive complaints about the situation, Roff said.

Over the holidays, Roff spotted someone in a kayak towing one of the carcasses out to sea after it had become lodged under the man’s dock.

Lisch observed that there must be some law that would address the matter.

The council asked Lisch to research if any existing laws, such as those prohibiting water pollution, might apply.

Sara Kennedy, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7031.

This story was originally published January 4, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Dead boars, hungry vultures plaguing Bradenton."