[Sca-cooks] shopping for wild boar

[Daniel & Elizabeth Phelps]

Was written:

> BTW, while I would accept either, given a choice I would prefer real boar 
> to

My response:

Wiki says:

Wild boar (also wild pig, Sus scrofa) is a species of the pig genus Sus, 
part of the biological family Suidae. The species includes many subspecies. 
It is the wild ancestor of the domestic pig, an animal with which it freely 
hybridises.[2] Wild boar are native across much of Northern and Central 
Europe, the Mediterranean Region (including North Africa's Atlas Mountains) 
and much of Asia as far south as Indonesia. Populations have also been 
artificially introduced in some parts of the world, most notably the 
Americas and Australasia; principally for hunting. Elsewhere, populations 
have also become established after escapes of wild boar from captivity.

Wild boar have been introduced into the southeastern US and California. 
They happily hybridized with feral swine.  The following from Wiki is a 
report of such:

A very large swine dubbed Hogzilla was shot in Georgia, USA in June 
2004.[32] Initially thought to be a hoax, the story became something of an 
internet sensation. National Geographic Explorer investigated the story, 
sending scientists into the field. After exhuming the animal and performing 
DNA testing, it was determined that Hogzilla was a hybrid of wild boar and 
domestic swine.

Thus any wild swine flesh you acquire in the states is most probably a 
hybrid.  Please note that domestic pig after a generation or two in the wild 
regresses to an appearance that is not unlike that of their ancient porcine 
roots.

Daniel, who has not infrequently seen them in the wilds of Florida.