---
title: "NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Is Infested With Feral Hogs. Really."
description: "NASA has a major wild hog problem at its Kennedy Space Center, with upwards of 12,000 of the animals terrorizing the campus."
date: "2019-08-06"
modified: "2019-08-06"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-hogs-kennedy-space-center"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "kennedy space center"
  - "NASA"
  - "the digest"
  - "wildlife"
---

# NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Is Infested With Feral Hogs. Really.

![NASA has a major wild hog problem at its Kennedy Space Center, with upwards of 12,000 of the animals terrorizing the campus.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/nasa-hogs-kennedy-space-center.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA/Bill White\</em\>*

## Going Hog Wild

In 1962, NASA [bought 145,000 acres of land](<https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/early-space/land.html>) in Florida — and since it only needed 6,000 for Kennedy Space Center, it made a deal with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to transform the rest into the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

This seemed like a good idea at the time, because it would prevent humans from building homes in the area, which could prove disastrous if a spacecraft crashed.

But, as it turns out, building a space campus in the middle of the Floridian wilderness would cause Kennedy Space Center to become home to thousands of wild hogs — which are now enjoying a moment in the spotlight as the stars of a [bizarre internet meme](<https://www.gq.com/story/hogblog>).

## Pig Heaven

NASA has been trying to control its wild hog population since 1972, and currently, trappers remove between 2,000 and 2,500 hogs from the refuge every year.

But with [some estimating](<https://www.nasa.gov/feature/our-refuge-feral-hogs>) that as many as 12,000 live on the campus alone, those efforts haven't been enough to stop the animals from destroying lawns, contaminating the water supply, and [causing car crashes](<https://modernfarmer.com/2013/09/gators-rattlers-bobcats-boars-life-nasa-campus/>) at a rate, in 2013, of about one per week.

Still, it's hard to fault NASA for not giving 100 percent to fixing its wild hog problem. After all, it has bigger things to worry about — like figuring out how to [safely put humans on Mars](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/space-radiation-mars-mission-deadly>) in the next decade.

**READ MORE:** [Gators and Rattlers and Buzzards and Boars: The Wild Side of NASA’s Campus](<https://modernfarmer.com/2013/09/gators-rattlers-bobcats-boars-life-nasa-campus/>) \[*Modern Farmer*\]

**More on Mars:** *[European Space Agency: Radiation Will Make Mars Mission Deadly](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/space-radiation-mars-mission-deadly>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)