Josh Helcel is a project coordinator with the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute (NRI). He specializes in educational programming and providing technical assistance to landowners and others seeking to control expanding populations of wild pigs. Josh has a Bachelor of Science in wildlife ecology and management from Texas A&M University. Prior to working for NRI, he worked as an interpreter and public hunting coordinator for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Currently, Josh is working within a 13-county area across the Lake Granbury, Leon River, Lampasas River, Gilleland Creek, Plum Creek and Geronimo Creek watersheds to reduce the environmental impacts of wild pigs. His emphasis on best management practices provides landowners with the outreach, technical assistance and resources needed to effectively abate the damages associated with exotic invasive wild pigs.
Josh also provides watershed-based educational presentations and resources through a variety of online and social media outlets including: the Feral Hogs Facebook page, the Feral Hogs YouTube page, the Wild Wonderings Blog and the new Wild Pigs website.
Extension Publication released on Feral Pigs and Disease Concerns
The Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute (NRI) released a new publication titled “Disease Concerns Associated with Feral Pigs” that covers the science behind the most common and emerging diseases associated with this animal and the way diseases are transmitted.
Hunting License No Longer Required to Hunt Wild Pigs in Texas
No hunting license? No problem…at least when it comes to wild pigs.
NRI's Josh Helcel and the wild pig team spoke with Susan Culp with the Texas Animal Health Commission to answer a few questions about the safety of bringing home the bacon. Click read more to watch the video.
The Origin of the Wild Pig Species
Nearly 160 years ago Charles Darwin published his “On the Origin of Species,” a work that would become the cornerstone of evolutionary biology. The book's 502 pages outlined the scientific theory of natural selection and species diversity through evolution across successive generations. If you’ve ever wondered where wild pigs (Sus scrofa) came from, why there are so many different names for them and how man has influenced nearly everything about them, well then what follows may be worth your minutes.
An Evaluation of Contraceptive Viability in Wild Pig Management
The continued expansion of wild pig populations in the Lone Star State has many Texans again questioning the viability of wild pig contraception as a means of control.
