LANSING, Mich., Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Michigan wildlife officials say they believe a fisherman illegally released pigs on an island to get rid of fish-eating cormorants.
The pigs were discovered on Snake Island in Lake Michigan in May by biologists doing a count of cormorant eggs. They found very few eggs and two pigs, The Detroit News reported.
Those pigs were removed but a duck hunter has since reported a third. That one has not been seen since although it may be hiding in the island's dense brush.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is trying to limit the number of cormorants on the island, which is a nesting site for ring-billed and herring gulls. The department's methods include shooting adult birds and coating eggs with vegetable oil to kill the embryos.
Biologists say that getting rid of the eggs may simply encourage the cormorants to lay more.
