By Todd Hatton
Murray, KY – An effort by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission to eradicate wild hogs is stoking a controversy in the Legislature over whether the commission should be transformed or even abolished. Earlier this year the Legislature approved a bill changing the legal status of wild pigs from a protected game species to a "nuisance" animal. The commission then moved to legalize new means for killing hogs by landowners while prohibiting their traditional hunting. The essential ban on hunting prompted a litany of complaints to legislators from hunters. And now a bill extending the life of the Wildlife Commission for another five years has stalled in a House committee. Committee chairman Jim Cobb says the Commission has shown itself to be out of touch.