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Each morning I have the same dread. How much damage did the pigs do last night?

Here in lower Puna, near the southeast shore of the Big Island of Hawaii, pigs outnumber humans. Sometimes, you can’t help but feel like you’re intruding into their space.

And the pigs probably feel the same way. Pigs are intelligent animals, considered the smartest of the farm animals. And these pigs are also feral, so they are savvy to the fact that we humans are out to eat them.

You have to give them credit, too. Despite the constant threat of attack by hunters and dogs, pigs manage to survive. That’s good for the pigs, but a pain for people who don’t want their lawns dug up.

Pigs have this thing about plowing up fields. That is a fine quality if you are a farmer without a plow. But if you are a homeowner with a nice field and orchard, it’s a problem.

Of course, people who eat pigs will have no problem ending this problem with a bang. And that’s when I realized something important about human nature.

At one moment, people can be kind, loving, and empathic, and at the next, they can be psychopaths. Let me explain.

When I first began living with the pigs, I found it easy to feel love and empathy for them. The pigs in Hawaii are not aggressive, and run away if you threaten them. Being feral and not fully wild, their past domestication shows in their willingness to be near humans.

However, a problem for pigs is that humans bring dogs.

The history of man’s relationship with dogs is long and deep, and I love dogs. But I never understood the human-canine relationship until I witnessed the carnage of a pack attacking a pig. It is a reminder that dogs are more than love-objects for people. They are also warriors, willing to help us hunt, fight, and kill.

Dogs get rid of pigs, one way or another. Unless the pig gets rid of the dog, which can happen from pig tusks.

But when there are no dogs, you can finally get to know the pigs. We have been dog-less for over a year, and the pigs are now able to roam and be themselves without as much fear.

Pigs can be playful and very happy. All it takes is plenty of wild avocados, guavas, and lilikoi, and a nice mud hole. They need the mud to help with parasites on their skin. It probably also soothes the itching from fire ant bites, which must plague them. Some pigs have cloudy eyes, like many dogs and cats do, from the little fire ants infesting this part of the island.

But to make their mud baths, they need to remove the lawn. And there’s the rub.

We love our lawns. It’s our tidy world, created from the chaos of the jungle, and here the pigs are destroying it. Sure, we already destroyed the natural environment to make that field. But it was our field, not the pig’s.

Get Dogs? Shoot Pigs?

So what do you do? On the one hand, there is a family of pigs frolicking in your field, living their simple piggy lives, trying to find food underneath your lawn and a place to rub and soothe their itching bodies. The pigs are peaceful, clearly have relationships with one another, and seem to be emotional, which you hear in their grunts, barks, and contented chewing sounds. They are the “people” of the forest, part of Hawaii’s wildlife that deserves respect.

On the other hand, you have your little world which they are plowing up. They are a force of chaos that challenges your desired order.

For people who have no empathy for pigs, there is no issue here. Get some dogs, or shoot the pig. Eat your problems away and save your lawn. Period.

For those who want peace with pigs and are willing to share their space with other animals, you need to rethink your lawn. Do you really need all that grass?

And your answer will likely be, yes, I need all that grass. The problem is that when we give space for the pigs, they make it a pig space.

Co-existing with others is a problem for us humans. Sharing is hard, since it requires compromise and a willingness to give in on some of the things you want. It’s no easier when you’re sharing with a pig. I mean, with lots of pigs, who reproduce like crazy.

And that’s when human nature kicks in. It seems that when push comes to shove, people are willing to shoot to kill. Empathy goes out the window when we get annoyed and angry. Suddenly, that cute little piggy is a pain that you can shoot dead, and eat.

Here in lower Puna pigs outnumber humans.

We can go from hot to cold in a moment. People can love you one minute, and hate you the next. We can marry in love, and later divorce in hate. We can build a city of light, and darken it overnight with war.

There’s little hope for the little pigs that know nothing about human nature. We will feed them one minute, and shoot them the next. And if they mess with the lawn, we will mow them down.

It seems harsh, but we have lots in common with our dogs. We, too, are predators. Sharing the world with animals, especially ones weaker than ourselves, is difficult. Violence is often the first solution we take when annoyed by animals, especially if we can eat them afterwards. But we have the ability, as humans, to rise above our innate brutality.

The same penchant for violence is on display in how we deal with one another. Hate, racism, and bigotry access the same lizard-brain circuitry as shooting pigs that are digging up your lawn. We can do better than this, and must.

All I am saying is, give pigs a chance.