Wild boar’s not likely to be an invasive species in Italy, the way they are in the Pacific Islands or California, where they’re non-natives brought in by humans.
Well, really, “invasive species” is shorthand for “species transported to foreign ecosystem by invasive humans.”
When species expand into a new range on their own, that’s just ecosystem evolution.
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Read the article I linked to; they’ve managed to become quite a pest! And part of the reason is that new breeds of boar were imported.
My mother’s-cousin’s-husband uses the old stone cottage my grandmother grew up in as home base for boar hunting. There are still farms up there, but not as many as in the past.
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And amazing summer sausage!
Mmmm. Cane toad. Good eatin’. Good Hallucinogenics.
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One of the main reasons I feel not the slightest bit of guilt over pork, even knowing how intelligent and self aware they are- Pigs are insanely invasive, destructive, and vicious. If we weren’t using them for food, we’d be wiping them out to protect ourselves and our crops.
Ergo, bacon is self-defense.
Allegedly they do taste pretty good, depending on the specific species. (I plan to test this over the summer EDIT: Likely not far from where your video was filmed, too)
Supposedly grass carp and bighead carp taste great (just are bony), and silver carp just OK.
(European carps have a bad rep for flavor, which unfortunately carries over to the Asian variety undeservedly)
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Freshwater fishermen out this way do this for a variety of species they deem harmful to game fish, many of which are native:
Carp
Pike
Bowfin
Drum
Buffalo
Gar
You know, kill carp if you like, but at least donate the meat to a food bank. I’ve met guys that do that, and have happily given away a half dozen large carp to various takers.
There’s a local reservoir that sponsors a pike tournament every September to essentially rid the lake of the voracious fuckers before they stock the trout and salmon fingerlings. They are an incredibly ugly fish but tasty as hell.
My Australian buddy who loves hunting will shoot several axis deer in a single day which is weird to me since our local hunting laws are severely strict on poaching out of season. I have to remember they are invasive down under - but shoot a roo without a permit and you’re in deep shit.
Apparently that’s what we should have done with milkfish. I will grant that it was tasty (i.e., mild).
We should be so lucky, to have an invasive AND hallucinogenic species.
(Cane toads are deadly, DON’T DO IT!)
Don’t get me wrong, pike are invasive as hell in some waters. The story of invasive species can be strange indeed.
For example, Lake Trout are invasive in Yellowstone lake, even though they were introduced from just a few miles away.
Pretty sure this is already being done (the animal feed/fertilizer option). I can’t remember the exact source (and can’t be bothered to google now), but there was something about really cool boats equipped with electrical current prods…
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We also have good ol’ rabbit as a pest. Tasty.
And feral cat.
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Just goes to prove I have literally never had an original thought in my life >:)
I never liked it. The whole “there harmful” thing always reeked of people being pissed that all they were catching were dog fish and sand sharks. But I never got that. 1.They’re fun as hell to catch. 2. if the sharks are out so are the eatin’ fish. So move slightly to left and you’ll probably find what you’re looking for.
I suppose its a bit different with fresh water, a lot of those places are stocked. But weirdly most of what you’re listing are fish my brother and most of the freshwater guys I know deliberately target. Cause they’re tasty. Sounds like a situation with trophy fisherman, you wanna brag about getting a huge bass. And you didn’t so blame the pike. I don’t like that shit. I was raised by a simple rule: You kill it, You eat it. I go fishing because I want to eat those bastards. If I pull it up and its edible it’ll end up on my plate. Most of your trash fish actually taste better than the popular stuff.
Missed this post earlier. Few things:
So, in IL where this was filmed, people are starting to eat them. One company is pulling millions out of the IL river every year, and making liquid fertilizer or maybe catfood I read?
Dealing with the bones, you can take the extra effort to filet them, pressure cook, score the meat and fry in hot oil to soften the bones, or just use a meat grinder (the bones are small enough to grind). I’ve done this with European carp to see how they are (which prepared properly, are serviceable, certainly they were good enough for the Romans back in the day).
Voracious is the wrong word. They grow so big so quickly because they are mostly filter feeders, and are feeding on plankton and the like 24/7. The big threat to the local fish populations is that they crowd out the food sources that the smallest fish, crustaceans, etc. feed on, thus taking out the food sources of the larger fish in the food chain.
The jumping behavior is a fear response, not one of aggression.
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I dunno…sounds kind of boaring.
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There are apparently several different methods of cooking fish that involve softening or even melting the bones, so that you can eat them without worry. I rather like the flavor, and I hear it’s good for your fingernails 
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